The Tears of Isis
by mille libri
Summary: On the eve of Rick and Evelyn's wedding, the dead rise. When Jonathan confesses his latest scheme, they are drawn into a magician's dangerous search for power and wealth.
1. Screams in the Night

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

"A toast. To my dear sweet baby sister and her future husband, who may just be the scariest man I've ever met." Jonathan Carnahan raised an unsteady hand in the air, some of the champagne from the glass he held sloshing over his shirt cuff.

"Scariest?" Rick O'Connell protested. "Have we all forgotten about the indestructible mummy that came back to life?"

His fiancee leaned over in his direction. "And which of you is still alive?"

"Well … that's not a bad point," Rick admitted. "Still …"

"Darling, remember, you want Jonathan to be afraid of you. He's much less likely to swindle your money out of you that way." Evelyn Carnahan smiled at her fiance and her brother in turn. She loved them both, but it would be difficult to find two greater, or more charming, scoundrels in all of Egypt.

"Hey!" Jonathan tried to remain offended, but he couldn't hold it for long.

Rick subsided, easing back into his chair next to his bride-to-be, who he firmly believed was the scariest—as well as the smartest and most beautiful—person he had ever met.

It was a small group for their celebratory dinner. Because she had spent so much of her life with her nose buried in a book, Evelyn had few friends. Most women found her boring, or so she said. Rick was well aware that women didn't find him boring, but he certainly didn't know any he wanted to introduce to his intended. None of his male friends were particularly suited to meeting her, either.

But it didn't matter. All he needed was her. He could hardly believe that in just a few short days this woman next to him would be his wife.

It was a thought that brought as much fear as excitement, if he was being honest with himself. What did he know about being married? He'd grown up in a Cairo orphanage; gone on to the French Foreign Legion; and once he'd mustered out of that, he'd drifted about with other people like him, rootless wanderers with questionable morals. Before he'd met Evelyn, his morals had been drifting past questionable and dangerously close to nonexistent. She had saved his life in more ways than one.

Now here was this lovely girl, innocent in so many ways, who looked at him with such trusting eyes. He wanted desperately to be the man he saw reflected in those eyes … and was afraid with equal desperation that he never could be.

Evelyn leaned against Rick's shoulder, wondering what he was thinking of that had wiped the smile off his face. She hoped he wasn't having second thoughts about marrying her. He wasn't exactly the settling-down type, and she wasn't really the kind of girl an adventurer like him would have chosen. Oh, yes, she had fought Ankh-su-namun's corpse when she had to, she had found the inscription to locate the Book of Amun-Ra … but that wasn't her real life. Her real life she spent in dusty libraries poring over old books. Rick would find that very boring. Could she really hold his interest?

A burst of laughter from another table brought her out of her thoughts. Looking up, she caught the steady, enigmatic eyes of Ardeth Bey, looking at her from across the table. Did he know what she had been thinking? It was so hard to tell. She wondered what he thought of all this, if he had a wife waiting for him, a child.

Even if she asked, he wouldn't tell her. He would merely raise an eyebrow and say something cryptic. She wondered what it said about her that the men of this strange new life of hers, as an adventurer, were so secretive about their pasts. All she really knew about Rick was that he had grown up in an orphanage.

Then again, what had her parents known about each other? A nobleman's son, in Egypt to study history and archaeology—to dig up treasure, actually, although Evelyn didn't like to think of her father that way. He'd been a lot like Jonathan, really. And her mother, the mysterious and beautiful Egyptian woman who had saved his life in a daring adventure and stolen his heart at the same time. They had made a life in Egypt together, never quite fitting in anywhere. Both Evelyn and Jonathan had been sent to school in England when they were old enough, and their parents had died, of a fever, they were told, while they were there.

They'd had only each other left to cling to. If their mother had had any family, they never knew it, and their father's distant relatives in England had little interest in his half-blood children. So they had come back to Egypt, where their parents had made their lives, and embarked upon their own careers as Egyptologists. Or, rather, Jonathan had scammed and squandered and stolen his way through one dig after another while Evelyn had buried herself in her books and never done anything the slightest bit interesting. At least, not until Jonathan had met an adventurous ruffian in a bar and picked his pocket, she thought, smiling lovingly at that ruffian, who sat next to her today as her promised husband.

After all, what did their pasts matter? They would make a future together, built on what they had learned about each other in dire peril, and whatever came they would handle together. Evelyn reached for his hand, feeling the warmth of the calloused fingers as they closed around hers.

"What?" he asked, leaning a little closer.

"I love you."

There was a surprise in his eyes, a wonder, that she found absolutely intoxicating, as though he found her as impossibly wonderful as she found him, and Evelyn couldn't help but kiss him, bold though it was to do so here in public.

For a moment he was startled, but then he returned the kiss hungrily, one big hand coming up to cup her cheek and hold her to him.

Evelyn lost all sense of time and place, as she always did when he kissed her, until Rick pulled back, blinking at her hazily. She felt a fierce pride that she could affect him that way, inexperienced as she was … experienced as he no doubt was.

"That is my sister," Jonathan protested. "Have some respect!"

She turned to grin at him. "I think you'll have to get used to it, brother dear."

He groaned, but she could see he was happy for her.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Rick whispered in her ear, and Evelyn nodded. They said their good-byes to the few friends they had deemed acceptable to introduce to one another and made a hasty exit out into the damp heat of the Cairo night.

They walked down the street, Evelyn holding Rick's arm. He was heavily armed, as always, and fairly well-known amongst the Cairo underworld, but he kept her on his left side so his right hand was free at all times, just to be on the safe side. Looking down at her, he smiled. "Alone at last."

"My favorite part."

Rick stopped walking and pulled her into his arms. "Mine, too." His mouth came down on hers, and Evelyn responded eagerly for a moment, relishing the warmth that flowed through her at the touch.

Then she pushed at him. "Rick. Not here, on the street. It isn't … decent."

Rick grinned. "No, I suppose not. Come on, then." He took her hand and they hurried along the streets and alleys to her little flat. Not to be hers much longer. While they hadn't determined for certain where they would live when they were married, they intended to travel for some time immediately afterward, and Evelyn would no longer need her flat.

The saddlebags of the camel they had ridden away from Hamunaptra had been filled with treasure, no doubt brought out by Rick's squirrelly little friend Beni before he was sealed in the tomb. They had sold only a few of the least interesting items, hiding most of it to be researched properly later, but had still managed to salt away a tidy nest egg—with some put aside for Jonathan's use, as well. In addition to the money left by Evelyn's parents, they were well set to do whatever they wanted with their lives. The fact that they had not spent a single moment discussing what they wanted to do with their lives worried Evelyn occasionally, but right now, with Rick's hand in hers and the prospect of the end of the evening kisses in front of her, the future was the farthest thing from her mind.

At her door, Rick took her into his arms again. At the touch of his lips, Evelyn sighed, leaning back against the door, letting herself be held up by his arms and the solid wood behind her as the melting warmth weakened her knees.

He felt good against her, his hands restless on her back and his lips exploring the side of her neck. One hand slid around to the front to cup her breast, his thumb unerringly finding the nipple beneath layers of fabric and rubbing little circles over it until it hardened beneath his touch, the sensation making Evelyn gasp and squirm against the cool, hard wood of the door. She wanted to touch him, too, and she reached for his shirt, pulling it out of his pants and running her hand beneath it across the smooth, hard muscles of his stomach, the light dusting of hair there soft beneath her fingers.

Rick drew in his breath sharply, pressing against her hands. "Evelyn."

She smiled, loving the way she affected him. Her fingers touched his waistband, hesitated, then boldly moved lower, feeling the hard ridge there.

Grabbing her hand, Rick held it there. And then he moved her away, lifting her hand to kiss her fingers. "We said we weren't going to do that."

Through the haze of her desire, Evelyn could barely remember making that agreement, and certainly not why they had made such a hasty promise. "We're almost married; what's the harm?"

Rick shook his head. "I want to do this right. To … be worthy of you."

"You are."

"Maybe. But there are rules. I've never done anything by the rules in all my life, but I want to do this the right way, the way your parents would have wanted it."

"My parents were adventurers," Evelyn said tartly. "They were hardly tied to convention."

Rick grinned. "Maybe not for themselves, but I'll bet it would have been all different when it came to their daughter."

Evelyn thought back to her parents, her dim memories of them from her childhood. Would they have been that way? In their will, they had requested to have Jonathan and Evelyn raised in England, sent to school there. Perhaps they had wanted a more conventional life for their children. And now here was Jonathan, swindling his way through life, and herself marrying an orphaned American soldier of fortune. She wanted to think that her parents would have been happy for her, proud of her, glad to have her following in their footsteps, but she would never truly know.

"Do you ever wonder what they were like?" she asked softly.

"Who, your parents?"

"You know what I mean."

Rick shrugged, uncomfortable as always with being asked to look back into his childhood. "Not really."

It wasn't true; Evelyn felt it in her bones. But she also felt that this was hardly the time to push the topic.

And she couldn't have, even if she'd wanted to, because at that moment, the night was split by screams.


	2. Raising the Dead

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Rick and Evelyn froze, listening to the piercing cries. "Where do you think it's coming from?" Evelyn asked in a whisper.

"I don't know." He moved closer to her, his hands tightening protectively on her upper arms.

"Should we … go see if we can help?"

"That's the kind of question that lands a person in a sinking tomb, running for their lives," he reminded her. Then he sighed. "But yes, we probably should."

Reluctantly, Rick pulled away from her. He wondered if she was thinking about the same thing he was—Imhotep, and that moment when Rick had burst into the chamber at Hamunaptra to find her chained to a table with the knife poised to plunge into her chest. He had felt a pain in his own chest seeing that, and had realized thoroughly, then and there, how much he loved her. He never intended to let anything like that happen again, never intended to lose her or even come close.

But he couldn't shelter her, either. That wouldn't be fair to her after she had learned to be someone new in their adventures. He had met a librarian, prim, proper, naïve … but underneath had been someone else, someone who had emerged slowly in the dust and the heat and the danger. Rick liked that new Evelyn, but he was a little afraid of her, too. She was fearless and a little reckless and there was a way she shone in the midst of danger that made him want … things he was still just a little afraid of wanting, because the librarian was still there, too, and the librarian deserved love and cherishing and to be taken care of. Together, the two sides of her were dizzying—and not a little bit confusing.

There were more screams, all coming from the same direction. Rick held Evelyn's hand tightly, turning toward the sound.

Another sound was overlaying the screams now, coming closer. Running feet, and then a familiar voice shouting, "Evie!"

Rick and Evelyn looked at one another and in one voice said, resignedly, "Jonathan."

They hurried to meet him. Jonathan stopped in front of them, bracing his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

"What have you gotten into now, Jonathan?" Evelyn snapped. "We only left you a few minutes ago."

Rick cleared his throat. "Try an hour and a half."

She looked at him in surprise. "An hour and a half? We were ki—er, talking for that long?" Rick liked the flush that spread across her face, enjoying the contrast with her boldness earlier.

Jonathan straightened up, looking pointedly at Rick's untucked shirt. "Looks like quite the conversation."

Hastily, Rick straightened his clothes. "I was the perfect gentleman," he assured Jonathan. Silly and prone to getting himself in trouble as Evelyn's brother was, he was her only family. Rick felt a certain obligation to make sure Jonathan knew he intended to treat her like the lady she was.

There wasn't time for Jonathan to react, because behind him more screams shattered the evening's stillness. The denizens of the neighborhood hid behind their shutters, sensibly refusing to come out.

"I said, what have you done now, Jonathan?" Evelyn demanded.

"Nothing!" He held his innocent face for a moment, then sighed. "It was just a little deal. A small investment that would make millions in the right hands." Glancing at Rick, he added, "And I'm going to need an advance on my allowance."

"Naturally. If your money could make millions in the right hands, why shouldn't they be yours?" Rick liked his brother-in-law-to-be well enough—the man was certainly charming—but he had already wised up to his role in curbing Jonathan's excesses. He had held on to Jonathan's share of the treasure from Hamunaptra, investing it along with theirs, and he doled it out to him a little at a time … in order to avoid problems just like this one. Apparently the system was going to need a little work.

"What kind of a deal?" There was an edge in Evelyn's voice, the kind that Jonathan never failed to straighten up for.

"Just … a little dig. A small tomb. In …" Jonathan paused and took a deep breath and then plunged ahead. "In a burial ground."

"A modern one?" Evelyn asked, her eyebrows shooting up. At his shame-faced nod, she said, "Jonathan, how could you?"

"This fellow I ran into, he said the tomb was the last known resting place of the Tears of Isis."

"The Tears of Isis? How did he know?"

Rick recognized that tone in his intended bride's voice—the proper librarian had been replaced by the historian. She was as heedless as Jonathan in her own way. The Tears of Isis was supposed to be a beautiful jeweled necklace, representing her grief after the death of Osiris. As he had once told Evelyn, Rick knew his treasure … but from the gleam in her eyes, there was more to this necklace than its resale value.

Jonathan scuffed the toe of his shoe against the ground. "He, um … showed me a map."

"A treasure map?" Evelyn groaned. "Jonathan, how could you be so gullible?"

"Well, the last map I found led to Hamunaptra! How was I to know this one was a fake?"

"But apparently it wasn't a fake, was it?" Rick asked. "Because, you know, the screaming."

"Yes. Yes, exactly. So … I met him after you left the dinner, and we went to the tomb. He wasn't supposed to have started digging tonight—he knew I wouldn't be available."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Imagine that. He didn't wait for you so he could get in and out and take your cut of whatever was there. What did he need you for anyway?"

"He … couldn't be seen in the area, something to do with a woman, he said. So I did the scouting and prepared the area for the dig, which was supposed to be tomorrow night."

"But instead it was tonight and apparently something's gone horribly awry." Evelyn sighed and glanced at her intended. "I hope you're armed."

He nodded, turning out his jacket to show her the two pistols concealed in the inner pockets. Small, but they would do the trick, along with the third he had tucked into his waistband.

She held out a hand. "I'll take one."

Rick and Jonathan both stared at her, and she shrugged. "A girl has to start defending herself sometime." Her hand remained outstretched.

"I haven't had a chance to teach you how to—" Rick began, but he cut himself off when Evelyn's hand didn't waver. "All right. Just try not to shoot me, will you?"

"I'll do my best." Her tone indicated his reluctance deserved at least some uncertainty.

He looked at Jonathan. "Where's this tomb?"

"I can take you there," said another voice from the shadows.

Evelyn's first reaction was to jump, startled, nearly pulling the trigger, before it registered that she knew that voice. Rick's hand closed over hers at the same time, pointing the gun down at the ground, and she marveled again at his reflexes, wondering where he had learned them. In the Foreign Legion, or before?

She couldn't follow that train of thought, though, because Ardeth Bey stepped out into the dim light from the stars, looking at Jonathan with an unmistakable disappointment in his face. "You have done it again, my friend. You have a positive talent for meeting the wrong people."

"What can I say, it's a gift," mumbled Jonathan, turning his face away in embarrassment.

"That's one way to put it," Rick agreed, stepping forward to clasp Ardeth's hand. "You in the thick of this?"

"Let us just say that I came to help."

"We can always use you."

Ardeth gave one of his sudden, surprising smiles. "Truer words have never been spoken, my friend. Lead the way."

As they followed Jonathan, and the faint screams that continued to echo from the tomb, they filled Ardeth in on what seemed to be happening—or at least, what had begun whatever was happening. He gave Jonathan an even more disappointed look, which Jonathan pretended to ignore.

None of them could ignore the scene that awaited them at the small burial ground where the tomb had been located. It was underground, apparently, because there was a large hole … and around it, the bodies of those who had dug it. Each of the graves near the hole appeared at first sight to be freshly dug, as well.

Rick knelt next to one, shifting the dirt with his fingers. It was crumbly, not packed as it would have been if dug up with a shovel. And a smaller pile than if someone had been digging a grave to lay a body in. It was almost as if … He looked up, frowning at his soon-to-be brother-in-law. "Jonathan, what have we told you about raising the dead?"

Ardeth winced, closing his eyes, and Evelyn came to Rick's side, kneeling down to look at the evidence.

"I didn't know that was going to happen, I swear!" Jonathan protested.

"After everything we've seen, you didn't say to yourself tomb plus graves plus digging equals bad?"

Next to Rick, Evelyn said softly, "To be fair, raising the dead wouldn't have been my first thought, either."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "After what we went through at Hamunaptra?"

Evelyn shrugged. "I'm an optimist?"

"After a lifetime with him, I don't see how."

Jonathan looked affronted. "Hey!"

Rick snorted. He got to his feet, looking off into the distance. "The trail of dirt seems to lead off that way." There were no more screams to guide the way, so wherever the walking dead had gone, either everyone they had encountered was hiding … or they couldn't scream anymore.

Ardeth Bey had been investigating the inside of the tomb. He emerged now, shaking his hair back to remove any clumps of dirt that had fallen into it.

Evelyn looked at him. "The Tears of Isis?"

He shook his head. "Gone, if it was ever here."

"Something was here," Rick said. "Something the dead were protecting."

"So I suppose we go after them?" Evelyn asked. She glanced down at her dress. "I'm not exactly dressed for adventuring, but I suppose that's never stopped me before."

Rick gave her a lopsided grin. "I'd say maybe you should take that as a sign to always be dressed for adventuring, but then you'd never dress up for me again."

"Perhaps I'll just need to get a bit more creative." For a moment, the walking dead were forgotten as she focused on her intended.

"I like the way you think."

Jonathan cleared his throat loudly, and they both jumped and moved away from each other.

Ardeth shook his head, but Evelyn thought she spied a faint twitch of the corner of his mouth. "I will follow the trail of the walking dead, and report back to you where they go. You collect whatever you think you might need."

Rick nodded his thanks, glad for a friend you could count on in times of crisis. Evelyn was brave but foolhardy, and Jonathan worse than useless, given how often these things tended to be his fault.

"We should go the museum and talk to the curator," Evelyn said.

The curator was new; Rick wasn't sure if he could be trusted with some of the less expected things that seemed to keep happening to them. He still regretted not forcing the other one to come along with them into the sewers—what a waste it had been for him to throw his life away on Imhotep's mind-controlled servants. They hadn't had the wit to follow the group down into the sewers; no one had needed to die, not then. Now they had a new curator, a younger man who seemed very rule-bound, and Rick was skeptical. He glanced toward Ardeth, to see what he thought, but the Medjai was already gone.


	3. In the Middle of a Mess

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

They had to wake up the new curator, Mr. Dailey, who blinked at them sleepily while they tried to explain. At last, when even Jonathan had fallen silent, Mr. Dailey turned to Evelyn.

"Miss Carmichael. Are these sorts of jokes your idea of professionalism? I was led to believe I was coming into a situation where the staff understood how to accomplish their tasks with a sense of decorum, and yet here I am, dragged from my bed in the middle of the night to listen to childish fairy stories. Is this some variety of … prank? Have your brother and your … fiance …" He looked Rick up and down with scorn. "Have they put you up to this?"

"No, you don't understand," Evelyn protested. "This is not a prank! These things have actually happened. There—" She groaned in frustration at the increasing irritation in the curator's face. If only they had brought Ardeth! But he was better used tracking the risen dead, and if she couldn't convince one supercilious Englishman that she was telling the truth, what kind of success could she hope to have in the man's world of adventuring? She couldn't rely on Rick's strong-arm tactics all the time.

Then again, if she hadn't lived through Hamunaptra and the days afterward, would she believe all these things were real—walking corpses, magical artifacts?

Evelyn considered that for a moment, looking at the curator's closed face and disbelieving eyes. Yes, she would have. She had always been alive to the magic of Egypt, both in the more common figurative sense and in the literal. Perhaps it was her Egyptian blood, or the years spent in boring English boarding schools dreaming of what her parents might be doing if they were alive today. But this man was as conventional as they came. It was no wonder he didn't believe.

"Never mind, Mr. Dailey," she said, patting his arm. "You're too clever for us by half, just a prank. So sorry to have awakened you. If you don't mind, I'll just take a peek in the stacks while we're here, do a bit of straightening, and then we'll be off, and you can get back to your bed."

His mouth opened in consternation, not certain how angry to be, or if he should be pleased at being included, or if he should order them all off the premises. At last he looked at Rick, standing there tall and imposing, and Jonathan, who he well knew was more than ready to talk his ear off given half a chance, and Evelyn herself, and decided a retreat was the most prudent thing.

"Why … yes. Perhaps I will just … You'll take care in the stacks?" he asked her, clearly remembering some of the stories about her past mishaps.

"Of course!"

"Yes. Of course. Well, then …"

"Good-night," Jonathan said cheerfully.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite," Rick offered.

At the mention of bugs, Mr. Dailey's eyes widened, and he hastened off.

Evelyn stifled a giggle. "That wasn't nice."

"What? That's a thing people say," he protested.

"Yes, but not usually to nice men like Mr. Dailey who are used to everything being clean."

He thought about that for a moment. "All right, you may have a point."

"Besides," Jonathan added, "that got rid of him and now we can do all that research you love so much without him looking over our shoulders."

Evelyn nodded. "True enough. Come along, then, both of you." She fixed Jonathan with a stern look. "But don't touch anything."

They looked at each other, shrugged, looked back at her, and nodded, and Evelyn couldn't help laughing. Scoundrels, both of them.

She led them to the stacks, her fingers trailing along the spines of the books as she craned her neck to see the upper shelves. The Tears of Isis … a number of legends spoke of them. There was an obscure text that would tell her what they were supposed to do, but where was it?

And then she found it … squarely in the hands of a young woman she didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

The other woman bristled, snapping the book shut with a force that made Evelyn wince for the fragile pages. "Who are you?"

"I am Evelyn Carnahan. I'm the librarian here."

An expression of utter panic passed over the woman's features, but she hid it almost immediately. It was only because Evelyn was so familiar with looking for those fleeting but telling expressions of guilt and panic in her brother that she noticed it in the first place. "Oh. In that case, I should introduce myself. My name is Alex Dailey."

Was it Evelyn's imagination, or was there a bit of a hesitation before the last name? She was tempted to go fetch Mr. Dailey and ask him if this woman truly was a relative, as she was implying … but he would not appreciate being awakened again so soon after returning to his bed. More, she was all but certain this Alex Dailey was lying about who she was, and imagined they would get better answers from her if they appeared to take her at face value.

So she put on an enthusiastic face and said, "Oh, are you the curator's niece? I've heard you were due to arrive."

"Have you?" The woman blinked, but if she was lying, she rallied quickly. "I was rather behind my time—I'm sure Uncle expected me several months ago."

"Travel trouble, then?" Jonathan asked, sidling over to Alex. "Such a lovely girl should have a protective travel companion."

"Which rather leaves you out, then, doesn't it, Jonathan?" Evelyn asked him, exasperated by his endless gullibility and weakness for pretty women. And Alex was quite pretty, Evelyn had to give her that. Big blue eyes, smooth braid of hair in a rich shade of nut-brown, even features—she was the very image of a charming Englishwoman.

Her brother cast her an irritated look, then turned back to Alex. "Have you seen the sights? I know a few lovely—"

"Graveyards," Rick interrupted, with a pointed look at his soon-to-be-brother-in-law.

Jonathan whitened at the reminder. "Ah. Yes. Well …"

"Oh, I adore graveyards," Alex exclaimed. "An odd taste, perhaps, but as the niece of an Egyptologist, not so surprising, I hope."

Evelyn reached out for the book. "It's rather late tonight—why don't I reshelve this, and we can all meet and take a tour in the morning?"

Alex held the book closer to herself. "I like a moonlight walk."

"I'm afraid you can't take the book out with you." Evelyn reached for it again, and Alex turned away, hugging the book to her chest.

"My uncle said it was all right." The pause before "uncle" was nearly imperceptible this time.

"Your uncle isn't the librarian," Evelyn pointed out.

"He's the curator."

"They are not the same thing. Entirely different skill sets." Although Evelyn was fairly certain she could handle the job of curator if anyone could be convinced to give it to her.

"Perhaps I should go ask him." Alex didn't move to do so, however.

Holding Alex's gaze, she said, "You know how cranky he is when awakened in the middle of the night. And we've already had to wake him once tonight. He'll have just gotten back to sleep, and won't be pleased in the least to be disturbed again because you want to break a rule and take a book from the library he's responsible for."

Alex blinked twice, rapidly, looking to Jonathan for support. "It won't do any harm."

"Yes, Evie, how could it?" he agreed, his eyes telegraphing that he was interested in the girl and didn't want Evelyn to irritate her.

Evelyn gave him a withering glare, hoping to remind him that there was much more at stake than his never-ending search for a suitably gullible woman. "Jonathan, perhaps you could show our new friend here some of the exhibits?"

"Oh, I've seen them. I'm simply fascinated by all things Egyptian," Alex gushed, but her eyes belied the girlishness of her speech, never leaving Evelyn's.

"Really? Well, I'm half Egyptian, you know," Jonathan told her. "Maybe you could let me fascinate you sometime."

Rick looked impatiently out the window. They didn't have time for this polite fencing match. Let Evelyn smooth things over later; for now they needed that book. He reached out and plucked it out of Alex's grasp, handing it to his fiance, ignoring Evelyn's roll of the eyes and Alex's startled gasp and Jonathan's "Hey!" "Jonathan," he said, "why don't you take Alex on a moonlight walk? I'm sure she'd enjoy your version of Egypt." He offered his brother-in-law-to-be an only slightly malicious grin.

"I, uh …" Jonathan glanced at Evelyn, as if for her permission, then apparently remembered that he had started this whole mess and probably wanted to be as far as possible from her sister when she had to fix what he had done. "Yes, of course. Shall we?" He held his arm out to Alex. That she didn't want to go was obvious; that she was well aware that Rick wasn't going to bother with the kind of polite dance around the truth she and Evelyn had been engaging in was equally so.

She gave in to the inevitable with a fairly good grace, Rick had to admit, taking Jonathan's arm and offering him what he clearly thought was a dazzling smile. "That would be lovely, thank you."

Only as they left the room did Rick consider that Jonathan would be putty in the girl's hands, and by then it was too late. And Evelyn already had the book open, flipping rapidly through the pages, scanning the lines in her search for answers. "Oh, this looks like it … no, no, not exactly," she murmured to herself, frowning over the page. "Maybe a bit further?" She turned another few pages, more slowly now. "Ah, this is closer. To raise the dead …" Her lips moved silently as she read down the page.

Rick restrained his curiosity for as long as he could, which wasn't long. "What does it say?"

"Patience."

"It says patience?"

Evelyn withdrew her attention from the book long enough to give him a withering glance.

"What?"

"If you'll let me read this in peace, I'll be able to tell you what we need to do faster."

"Why is it always we? Couldn't Jonathan fix his own messes every once in a while?" he asked plaintively.

This time, Evelyn didn't bother to look up from the book, even though he was sure she'd rolled her eyes. "Would you trust Jonathan to fix a broken boot heel?"

"No, but then, I get a lot of wear out of my boots."

"Will you kindly let me work?"

He sighed. "All right." To think, it had started out as such a nice night. Good friends, celebration … he should have known it wouldn't last. "Evelyn, do you think we're going to end up making a habit of this kind of thing?"

"Which kind of thing?"

"The kind of thing where we always end up in the middle of a mess with ancient curses and mummies."

She looked at him over the top of the book, quirking her eyebrow in a way he found utterly adorable. "You mean, in contrast to the type of mess you're more used to finding yourself in the middle of?"

He winced, and to his chagrin, could feel himself blushing. "I knew I was going to regret telling you about that."

Evelyn smiled, snapping the book closed. "Oh, you are indeed."

"Did you find it?"

"Yes. It says the Tears of Isis are only a myth."

"Great. Just what we needed to hear."

"Ah, but it also says that in mythology, they could only be used by a black magician, and …" Her face fell, her voice losing its triumphant tone. "And only he can reverse the spell."

"So all we have to do is find the fellow who convinced Jonathan to do the dig, talk him into reversing the spell," he patted the gun at his hip, indicating his preferred method of persuasion, "and we can go home and get ready to get married?"

"Something like that."

"Well, then. Easy as pie."

Evelyn shook her head. "Oh, I wish you hadn't said that."


	4. Misgivings

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Outside the building, they found Jonathan trying to turn on the charm to impress Alex, who seemed completely bored. Evelyn was irritated with this strange girl—not that Jonathan was any prize romantically, Evelyn had no illusions about that, but he wasn't dull, certainly. Who did this girl think she was, rolling her eyes at him?

Alex's eyes darted to Evelyn's hands, looking for the book. She frowned when she didn't see it. "I assume it's all right for me to continue my researches?"

It would have been, if Evelyn had believed she was who she said she was. Since she didn't, she shook her head. "It really is awfully late."

"I like to work at night. It's quieter."

"Yes, well, it also wastes … candles."

Alex bit back a snort at that.

Then from the darkness came a familiar black-robed figure. "My friends, I followed the dead to their destination, and—" Ardeth stopped short when he saw Alex. "I am sorry, I do not believe we have met."

Her eyes had widened at the sight of him, black-robed and looming out of the shadows, and now she collected herself with an obvious effort. "Alex ... Dailey."

"I am Ardeth Bey. At your service." He bowed over the hand she had automatically extended. Rick stifled an impatient growl at the ridiculous formality of it all, but Alex seemed impressed by the proper manners displayed by this robed Egyptian in the middle of a dusty Cairo street.

Rick cleared his throat loudly, and Ardeth started a little before turning to him. "What did you find?"

"Find? Oh, yes. The …" He looked over at Alex again, with a different kind of confusion this time. "Those I followed led me into the desert, where they were … ah, having a celebration, at another location much like the first."

"Party?" Alex asked brightly. "I enjoy a good party. I was beginning to think everyone in Egypt was stuffy." She glanced meaningfully at Jonathan and stepped closer to Ardeth, smiling up into his face.

"Oh, I don't believe you would like this one," Evelyn snapped.

"How do you know, when you know nothing about me?"

The two women looked at each other, neither willing to back down an inch.

Ardeth and Jonathan both looked at Rick helplessly. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes—barely—and sighed. "I'll go with you to the … party," he said to Ardeth. "You two escort Alex back to her—" he paused, since she hadn't said where she was staying, then decided just to make the logical assumption, "hotel."

All four of them started arguing with him at once.

"You want to wake the dead?" he snapped, with a meaningful look at Evelyn, who snapped her mouth closed instantly. Ardeth did the same, leaving Jonathan's "Now see here" and Alex's "I don't need to go home" the only sounds in the street. Both of them looked a bit shame-faced at being the only ones left talking, and subsided, although not without annoyed looks at Rick. When everyone was quiet, he said, "Good, then. You, keep her out of trouble," he said to Jonathan, and then to Evelyn, "and you keep him out of trouble."

"Not worried about me getting in trouble?" Alex asked, her mouth turned down in a pout another man might have found attractive. Ardeth certainly seemed to, his dark eyes lingering there before he turned hastily around.

Rick's eyes rested on her, wondering what her angle was here. She was trying her best to seem as though she was nothing more than a scholar—but Rick's experience with lady scholars had been largely limited to Evelyn, which meant he knew damned well how devious they could be. "You're going home to bed. Aren't you?"

"Oh, of course," she said readily, her eyes wide and innocent. Just the way Evelyn would have.

He glanced Evelyn's way, hoping she had caught Alex's unstated intentions, but he didn't have to worry. His fiancee's hackles were well up where this girl was concerned, her eyes narrowed in distrust. It wasn't the first time Rick had seen such instant dislike grow up between women, generally when each felt threatened by the other, but he was a little surprised to see it in Evelyn, whom he still considered to be fundamentally gentle at heart, even if she had an undeniable strength, as he had seen at Hamanuptra.

"Don't worry. We'll see her safely tucked away," Evelyn promised now, an edge to her soft voice.

"Thank you," Alex replied, an equally sharp edge to her otherwise sweet tone.

Rick decided to ignore the subtext. It seemed safest. "Good." With a final lingering look at Evelyn, he joined Ardeth, following the Medjai through the darkened streets. He had some misgivings about leaving Evelyn and Jonathan alone, especially with a strange woman none of them entirely trusted, but he put them aside. After all, he and Ardeth were the ones following the walking dead. Jonathan and Evelyn were staying safely in the civilization—or Cairo's version of it. How much trouble could they really get into?

With that comforting thought, he caught up to Ardeth.

* * *

Left alone, Evelyn looked at Alex. "Shall we get you all tucked up?" She didn't care that the question came out sounding harsh. She felt harsh. Whoever this girl was, she was in the way of the investigation into the walking dead, and Evelyn wanted her shut up in her hotel and out of their hair.

"By all means," Alex agreed, far more meekly than Evelyn would have expected. Was there a flash of something in her eyes? It was hard to tell in the darkness.

Jonathan, who had stayed silent all this time, offered an arm to each lady. "What a lucky fellow I am," he said heartily, but he was deflated by Alex's utter lack of interest, Evelyn could tell. She felt surprisingly indignant about it, too. Jonathan was a wastrel and a petty thief, rarely to be trusted and barely capable of looking after himself. But after all, he was her brother. And who was this girl to look down her nose at him?

Alex had ignored Jonathan's proffered arm, walking a few steps toward the darkness in which Rick and Ardeth had disappeared. "Are you sure we shouldn't go with them?"

"Positive," Evelyn replied coldly. "After all, you've just arrived. We can't have you getting lost in the middle of Cairo. Or worse, the outskirts. Now, can we? What would your uncle say?" She laid just enough stress on 'uncle' to make it clear she didn't entirely buy the relationship.

Sighing, Alex turned back. "Very well." As they made their way toward the hotel, she kept casting glances back over her shoulder, though.

Once they neared the hotel, Alex seemed to relax and give up on the idea of following the others. She became more friendly, as well, taking Jonathan's arm at last and giving every evidence of listening attentively to a rather long-winded story he was telling.

At the door of her hotel, she turned to look at them, pasting an apologetic expression on her face. "I hope you don't mind if I was a little … hesitant back there. To all of a sudden run into a group of strangers in the middle of what you think is a closed library—and, um, your companion is a little intimidating, armed to the teeth as he is."

"Fiance," Evelyn corrected automatically, feeling the usual rush of pride and excitement in knowing that Rick, so tall and handsome and powerful, was all hers. She blinked it back, then, wondering how Alex knew he was 'armed to the teeth'.

Alex continued as though Evelyn hadn't spoken. "I of course have heard my uncle speak of you, Miss Carnahan, and the good work you've done at the Museum, and I feel it would be remiss of me not to offer you a soothing cup of tea to settle your nerves after the turn I must have given you … and to make up for you missing the party to escort me home."

"Why, of course," Jonathan exclaimed, ushering Alex inside the hotel without another word, leaving Evelyn to follow behind. She didn't know why she felt uneasy, but she did.

It was a perfectly normal hotel. Not sumptuous, but neat and clean and proper. Evelyn noticed a few casual acquaintances and nodded to them, feeling better somehow that she had been seen entering. She climbed the stairs after Alex and Jonathan—whose efforts at being charming were being met with slightly more warmth all of a sudden. Evelyn wondered why. Alex had certainly made her disinterest in him known.

Then Alex had drawn her key out of her pocket and was opening the door. She gestured to Jonathan to enter, but he stepped back gallantly to allow the ladies to precede him. Jonathan was a scoundrel, but he was still a gentleman, Evelyn thought fondly. Unfortunately, this left her entering first, since she was a guest, something she would much rather not have done. Her skin prickled. If she were Rick, she would have a gun half-drawn right now, looking around waiting for something to shoot. She would have to have him teach her how, she decided. Without more training, the gun in her pocket was of little use to her in a situation such as this one, other than as a potential bluff.

But there was nothing for it. She entered the room.

A tall man, Egpytian, but wearing an expensively tailored English suit, was standing in the middle of the room.

"Good evening, Miss Carnahan. I was hoping you would be coming to visit."

Jonathan bumped into her in the doorway as he entered. "Evie, must you stand in the wa—Oh."

"And Mr. Carnahan! What a pleasure it is to see you again."

"Yes, well, I, uh …" Jonathan turned to leave, but Alex had closed the door firmly and was standing in front of it, blinking innocently at him. He glared at her. "You knew all the time!"

"Knew what? I'm so new to Cairo, what could I possibly know?"

"Does someone want to tell me what this is all about?" Evelyn asked, moving further into the room and turning so that her back was to the wall and she had a clear view of the other three people. Then she registered the guilty look on Jonathan's face. "Oh, no, Jonathan, not this again."

"Evie, I can explain!"

The tall Egyptian smiled, his manners and accent disturbingly English. "Oh, there will be no need for that, Mr. Carnahan. Your sister and I have a few things to discuss, and then the four of us may be taking a little drive."

"A drive?" Evelyn asked sharply, not liking the sound of that. But Jonathan cut in before she could get any answers.

"I couldn't possibly. Places to be, you know. And Evie has—"

"A number of questions."

"Of course you do, my dear. Of course. Please come sit. I have tea, and lovely sandwiches."

As if she would eat or drink anything this man offered, Evelyn thought indignantly. But out loud, she said, "How thoughtful." Over her shoulder, she glanced at Alex, who was still standing in front of the door, with a mental tip of the hat to how subtly the other woman had played on their suspicions to set things up exactly the way she'd wanted them. Well, Evelyn wouldn't fall into the trap of underestimating her again.


	5. Mr Osiris

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Evelyn allowed herself to be led to the table where the tea things were set out, and she accepted a cup and a plate of sandwiches from the mannerly Egyptian. He didn't seem to find anything unusual about serving afternoon tea in what was rapidly approaching the middle of the night, and Evelyn was too curious about what he was doing there and what he wanted to point out the oddity.

Jonathan took the seat next to her. He was clearly going to be no help in this situation—the presence of the Egyptian had him too flummoxed to speak. In many ways that was a relief, given the tendency he had to run off at the mouth when nervous.

Alex remained by the door, her eyes fixed on the Egyptian as if waiting for orders. He ignored her entirely, serving himself last and taking his seat across from Evelyn. "You may be wondering what I wanted so badly to speak with you about, Miss Carnahan."

"To begin with, I'm wondering who you are. You seem to have the advantage of me."

"Of course. You may call me Osiris."

"Osiris? Do you believe you're a god?"

Osiris laughed, showing remarkably white and even teeth. "Do you mean, am I mad? Are you locked in a hotel room at the hands of a madman?" The humor ebbed from his face. "Not in the least. I assure you, I am quite sane."

Evelyn felt that she would be the judge of that, but there was no point in angering the man until she could figure out how to get herself and Jonathan out of here.

"Well, now that we have that out of the way." Jonathan made as if to rise from his chair. At a look from Osiris, Alex moved closer to Jonathan, who glanced at her apprehensively, tried a sickly smile that attempted to be charming, and then settled back into his seat when the stony set to her face didn't change. "On second thought … what lovely sandwiches."

"You are not eating, Miss Carnahan."

"I'm afraid I'm not very hungry, Mr. Osiris."

He smiled at her. "I was prepared for you to be entertaining. Mr. Osiris. I quite like that."

"I'm so pleased that I can entertain you."

"But you're waiting for me to explain why I brought you here in such a … creative manner."

Evelyn nodded. "As a matter of fact, I am."

"If my lovely young friend here had come to you and said, 'Miss Carnahan, will you come and have tea with Osiris,' would you have come?"

"You never know," Jonathan muttered under his breath, quailing under the severe looks he immediately received from everyone else in the room.

"You have a point," Evelyn conceded. "Could you not have contacted me through the British Museum?"

"As you have no doubt learned from your charming fiance, some things are best done outside the confines of the establishment. Your British customs are lovely," he brandished a delicate teacup, "but often so restrictive."

Evelyn frowned. "You know Rick?" With all due respect to her beloved fiance, this man seemed a bit too polished to be one of Rick's former compatriots. Of course, he could have cleaned himself up. Rick looked quite nice when he wanted to … although he could never quite hide his unruly nature and impatience with the way things were supposed to be done, and this man made quite a show of being the perfect elegant British gentleman.

"I know of him," Osiris corrected. "His more … straightforward way of getting things done doesn't entirely suit my purposes."

"But mine does?"

"Yes." He smiled. "You're very quick."

Evelyn frowned, wishing he would just get to the point. "What exactly is it you need done?"

"Straight to business, doing away entirely with the preliminaries. Indeed, let us do so." The affable smile and veneer of civilized gentlemen disappeared. He was harder, colder, and utterly determined. Evelyn felt her first stab of fear. "What do you know of the Tears of Isis?"

"Very little." She glared at Alex over her shoulder. "Someone made such a fuss I barely got a look at the book."

Osiris ignored the look and the comment, waving a hand. "I'm certain you more than you think you do … or than you're willing to admit." He fixed her with a severe gaze, which Evelyn met as calmly as she could.

If only Rick knew where she was! Half of her was listening for footsteps in the hall, ready for him to break down the door any moment. Except that he didn't know which hotel to look for, or which room it was even if he managed by some miracle to get the right one. No, she would have to manage for herself … and for Jonathan, she thought, watching him take a small bite of one of the sandwiches. The taste must have suited him, because he finished the rest of the little sandwich in a single bite and reached for another.

Evelyn shifted in her seat, just a bit, glad to feel the hard lump of the gun she had taken from Rick in the deep pocket of her duster.

"Miss Carnahan?"

"I'm thinking. I really wish your friend here would have allowed us to use the library—I could have been much more useful at the moment if she had." The irritation in her voice was genuine. If they wanted her for her expertise, why keep her from studying the topic? Clearly, to keep her from learning too much.

"A regrettable necessity, I assure you."

"What do you want to know? That would give me a place to start from." She raised her eyebrows. "I assume you have the necklace, given the state of the tomb and the burial ground."

He hesistated, caught off guard for the first time as he debated how much to tell her. "I have it," he said at last. "But …" His fist clenched at his side, and Evelyn stiffened at the movement and at the black anger in his face. "I do not know how to use it."

It seemed likely to Evelyn that he had thought he would know how, and now he was forced to seek outside assistance and not too happy about it. He seemed to have changed his plans awfully quickly, though. "What makes you think I do?"

"Why do you think I dealt with this fool?" he asked, still angry, gesturing impatiently at Jonathan.

"That's my brother," Evelyn snapped. "Watch your tongue."

"You would do well to watch yours, Miss Carnahan. This does not have to go pleasantly."

Disturbed by the change in his tone, Evelyn got swiftly to her feet, backing up so she could see Alex better and pulling the gun from her skirt pocket. "I believe it doesn't have to go at all," she said, pointing the gun at Osiris.

He and Jonathan had both risen from their chairs at her movement.

"I say, Evie," Jonathan began, but he swayed dizzily, putting his hand on the arm of the chair to steady himself. "I say," he began again, more faintly, then collapsed back into the chair, his head back.

"Jonathan!" Evelyn had started toward him as soon as he began to sway, which distracted her enough that Alex could pounce on her from behind and retrieve the gun, tugging it from Evelyn's fingers over her protests. Angrily, she faced Osiris. "What have you done to him?"

"Merely given him a nice rest, Miss Carnahan. A rest you could be sharing, had you been polite enough to accept my hospitality. Your fiance has not done your manners any favors," Osiris snapped.

"Good." She gestured toward the gun. "And I'll take that back now." It was false bravado, but better than nothing. She was afraid for Jonathan and terribly angry with herself that she had wasted this chance to gain the upper hand and lost both the gun and the element of surprise that could have been more valuable later.

Osiris laughed, his urbanity and good humor restored. "You are charming, Miss Carnahan, but even you surely know when you have no further options. So, you will come with me?"

"Where are we going?" Desperately, she tried to think of a way to get a message to Rick, anything she could leave behind to lead him to her.

"No, I will not tell you so that you can leave behind a message for your lover. Do you think I cannot read your thoughts? Now, let us go. There has been enough delay."

"But … Jonathan?" She was stalling for time, yes, but she was also genuinely worried for her brother. He had been all she had for such a long time—and she was still all he had. She couldn't abandon him here if there was any chance he would be harmed.

"Your brother will be fine. He'll take a nap, wake well rested, eat some food that will be provided for him in the morning, and, if you cooperate, we will be back long before he has any reason for concern."

Evelyn frowned, studying Osiris's face. She had no reason to disbelieve him, and a hand gently placed on Jonathan's neck indicated that he was breathing and his temperature was normal.

"Are you convinced?" Osiris asked gravely. "Because I have been very patient, but there is some urgency, and I would prefer you come of your own free will. It will be so much more … convenient."

"For you, or for me?"

"Both, I would imagine."

"Very well." She managed to make it sound as though there had ever been another choice. "I will come with you."

Osiris smiled, and even Alex seemed to relax a bit. "Excellent."


	6. Resourceful

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Cutting down the corpses of recent reanimated dead was worse than chopping his way through mummies, Rick had decided. Not just the smell, or the … fluids, but the knowledge that until recently these had been people who had been loved, who had left behind families who would still be hurt by the desecration of the bodies. He tried to be as efficient with the task as possible, to leave as few marks as he could, and he took a pride in the clean cuts he made.

Ardeth seemed to feel the same, and without needing to discuss it, they stacked the bodies carefully and respectfully when they were done.

"We should take them back to their graves," Rick said when they were done.

"And be arrested as grave robbers? I think not, my friend."

"Good point. We could leave a sign at the burial ground," he suggested.

"Possibly. We—" Ardeth's head lifted sharply as though he heard something, and his hand gripped Rick's arm to hold him still and silent while he listened.

Rick listened, too, and could hear the sound of someone stumbling along in their direction. They were breathing hard, whoever they were, and making enough noise to raise the dead all over again in the peace of the early morning darkness.

He was gripped by a sudden fear. Who else knew where they were and moved like a bull in a china shop? It could only be Jonathan, and if it were Jonathan, it could only mean something had gone wrong and Evelyn was in danger—or worse.

Ardeth gripped his arm. "If it was truly bad news, he would not be in such a hurry."

Rick nodded, grateful that his friend had followed his thought process, and was thinking more clearly than Rick was. If Evelyn was alive, then, she would be all right. She had to be. She was a resourceful girl, had been through more than her share of dangerous situations.

At last Jonathan came into sight, panting, his clothing in disarray. He saw Rick and Ardeth waiting for him and started to speak, but only a wheeze came out. He waved his hand to ask them to wait and stood there gulping for air while Rick tried to restrain himself from shaking his future brother-in-law like a troublesome terrier.

Catching his breath somewhat, Jonathan gasped. "Evie. Taken. Osiris."

"Osiris? She was taken by an Egyptian god? Come on, Jonathan, make sense!" Rick demanded.

But Ardeth was nodding. "The Tears of Isis."

Jonathan waved his hand to indicate Ardeth was on the right track. "His … little joke."

"Whose little joke?"

"An Egyptian … said he could … buried treasure … untold riches—"

"In other words, exactly what he needed to say to get your help. Was this the man who helped you raise the dead?"

Jonathan nodded.

"And he called himself Osiris?"

"Elegant fellow, though." Jonathan was regaining his breath. "Looked like any Englishman. Spoke like it, too."

"What happened to Evelyn? Where is she?" Rick demanded.

"I don't know. There was food—afternoon tea. Entirely the wrong time, of course, but quite tasty …"

Rick groaned. "And you ate it, and then you took a little nap."

"I'm afraid so. And when I woke up, Evie was gone, and so were Alex and the Egyptian."

Panic filled him, sharp and painful. He advanced on Evelyn's brother, towering over him. "Damn it, Jonathan!"

"I know. I'm sorry!"

"Sorry? You were supposed to take care of her!"

Ardeth reached out a hand and grasped Rick's arm. "This is not solving anything."

With an effort, he calmed down. "No, it's not. It's all right, Jonathan, we'll find her."

Jonathan nodded miserably.

"What do you remember from when the magician first approached you? Did he tell you where he intended to take the necklace?" Ardeth asked. His dark eyes held Jonathan's gaze, demanding that he search his memory.

The direct question spurred Jonathan to pull himself together. "He spoke of a cave, to the east of here. Maybe a tomb. I think he wasn't sure which it was."

"So this guy is dragging Evelyn off into the desert and he has no idea where he's going or what he's doing?"

"He thinks the necklace will give him power. He wants it."

Rick sighed. "Of course he does."

"What variety of power?" Ardeth asked.

"He …" Jonathan hesitated, thinking. "He seemed to think he could control people, if he knew how to unlock the charm of the necklace. As he controlled the dead."

"We have to find Evelyn. Now."

"Think, my friend. You do not know where she is being taken, or by whom. A cave? A tomb? Have you any idea how many of each fill the deserts of Egypt?"

"I can't just stand here!"

"You must trust her. Evelyn Carnahan is one of the most resourceful people I have ever met."

Evelyn Carnahan, Rick thought. At this rate, would she ever be Evelyn O'Connell? He knew Ardeth was right, that there was no help to Evelyn in them getting lost in the desert hunting her with no more clues than they already had, but he believed in action—standing around waiting had never been his strong suit.

"She'll find a way," Jonathan said, a rare seriousness in his eyes. "She'll come back to you. Evie's a stubborn, stubborn girl, and she always gets what she wants—eventually."

Rick could have wished Jonathan had left the 'eventually' off the sentence, but he nodded reluctantly. "Let's go over this burial ground with a fine tooth comb, then," he said. "If there's anything here that can lead us to her, we need to find it." He grasped Jonathan's shoulder. "You can do that, right?"

"Of course! I learned from the best." That the best had been Evelyn was left unsaid, and the three of them turned their attention to the mess that had been made of the burial ground, sifting through the dirt for anything they could find.

* * *

Evelyn sat tensely in the car, wedged between Alex at the wheel and Osiris next to her. He had no weapon, but his grip on her arm as he had escorted her from the hotel room had indicated that he was muscular and perfectly confident in his own abilities. She wouldn't find it easy to get away from him, armed or not.

He also seemed completely prepared for subterfuge. Pretending to faint wouldn't work, nor would feigning sickness. Maybe if she could get Alex alone somehow? But as the car chugged its way into the desert, farther and farther from anyone who might be able to help her, the chances of separating the other two in time to get away successfully seemed smaller and smaller.

It was mere chance that afforded her an opportunity. The car coughed and gave off a muffled bang, and then smoke rose from the engine. Alex gave a terrified look at Osiris.

"I'll fix it."

"Be quick about it," he snapped, his urbane exterior cracked for a moment.

"Too much sand isn't good for the engine." Evelyn shook her head. "You have to coat the interior to keep the sand out."

Osiris looked sharply at her. "You know about automobiles?"

"Of course," she lied. He clearly didn't, which was a point in her favor. "Would you like me to look at it?"

For a moment he was tempted, and Evelyn's heart leapt with hope. Then he frowned. "You will not find it that easy, Miss Carnahan."

"What? Where would I go that you couldn't chase me down?" She gestured at the desert all around them. She could make out the roofs of a few houses in the grey light of early dawn, but they were too far away for her to run to without being caught. "It's in my best interests to get where we're going as quickly as possible so we can get back and I can make sure Jonathan's all right."

Osiris studied her skeptically. "As you say," he agreed at last. "There seems to be nowhere for you to go. Nevertheless, you are not stepping foot out of this car."

"Have it your way."

He turned his attention from her, leaning forward as if he could somehow see Alex bending over the engine with the hood up. "Have you not repaired this machine yet?"

"I'm working on it as fast as I can. An extra pair of hands would be helpful, though."

Osiris swore under his breath. He looked at Evelyn. "Do not move, or I will shoot you somewhere extremely painful."

"I've been warned."

He didn't like leaving her there, but he didn't want her out of the car, either, and she took some amusement from his predicament.

At last, grumbling under his breath in an accent far less patrician than the one he had been using, Osiris climbed out of the car.

Evelyn shifted forward in the seat, listening intently to the sounds of the car. She knew little about automobiles, but she hoped that perhaps there would be a chance to do—something, if she could pay close enough attention to catch the proper moment.

Alex was apologizing profusely even as she tinkered with the insides of the machine, Osiris snapping at her for wasting his time.

At last, seeming somewhat satisfied, Alex slammed down the hood of the car, turning the crank in the front, the engine coughing as the crank fired it up. Osiris was distracted, watching Alex with a frown, clearly not convinced the car had been repaired. And Evelyn saw the moment: She stomped on the gas pedal, hearing the car roar to life. Alex and Osiris stared at her with wide eyes, then quickly threw themselves out of the path of the oncoming car, barely managing it in time.

Not sure how to back up, and not wanting to lose the time to figure it out, Evelyn swung the car in a wide circle around the sand, barely evading Osiris as he ran to catch up, praying that the sand wouldn't gum up the works again, and then she was gone, on her way back to the city, back to Rick, leaving Osiris and Alex flailing in the sand behind her.


	7. Where Have I Heard That Before?

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Pulling into the relative safety of her own neighborhood, Evelyn planned to abandon the car, now sputtering and clearly low on petrol or oil or some necessity, but a small voice that sounded suspiciously like Rick's in the back of her mind told her to search it first. After all, Osiris had planned to take the car to the tomb he had been hoping to plunder—perhaps he had taken it there before and a trace had been left that might be a clue to his ultimate goal, perhaps he had brought along useful tools that Evelyn could 'borrow' indefinitely.

She was on her hands and knees next to the car, looking underneath to see if anything distinctive might be clinging to the chassis, when she heard her name being called in increasingly urgent tones.

"Evelyn!" No doubt about it, that was Rick's voice.

Looking up, she saw him hurrying toward her down the street, Jonathan and Ardeth close behind. And then she was in his arms, being crushed against his chest. His heart thudded against her ear. If she had ever had any reason to worry about how he might feel about her, the way his heart was pounding now would have put those fears to rest. She wound her arms around his neck and closed her eyes and just clung to him, only now aware of how completely exhausted she was.

"Where have you been? We were afraid— We thought—"

"You were almost right." She pulled away, looking at her brother. "Jonathan, are you feeling well? No ill effects?"

"Fine, Evie. Sorry about … all that."

She frowned, wanting to be upset with him—but he was Jonathan. He never changed. There was comfort in that, as well as irritation. "I'm just glad you're not harmed."

"What happened?" Rick asked her.

"He drove me out into the desert. Then the car broke down, and while that girl Alex was fixing it, he got out, too, and then the car was all right and I drove off with it."

"Good for you." There was a quiet approval in Rick's voice that warmed Evelyn all through.

"Let us not forget that we have only disrupted his plans for a time. A man does not go to the trouble of disturbing a burial ground in the midst of a populated area, and raising the dead, without being very determined to accomplish his task." Ardeth frowned thoughtfully. "What of the girl? Is she involved?"

Evelyn considered her response. She hadn't liked Alex, and wanted to give a sharp answer, but Ardeth generally had a reason for asking a question, so she didn't want to be hasty. "She's involved somehow, that much was clear—but she isn't a full partner, more of an assistant, and she seems frightened."

Ardeth nodded, accepting the assessment. "Perhaps we could use her to find out his plans?"

"You don't think we've seen the last of him." There was resignation in Rick's tone.

"No, my friend. He has settled on Evelyn as his means of learning what he does not already know, since clearly Jonathan and Alex did not have the requisite knowledge. He will not give up now." Ardeth glanced at Evelyn, concern evident in his dark eyes. "You should be very careful."

"Oh, I will be," she promised.

Jonathan groaned. "Where have I heard that before? You always say you'll be careful, Evie, and then you rush off and we're all caught up in danger and death and … discomfort."

"Says the man who woke the dead," Rick snapped. "This is hardly Evelyn's fault."

Evelyn put her arms out to both of them. "Play nice, boys. It's an unfortunate situation, to be sure, but if we can stop the man we can benefit anyone he might otherwise hurt later."

Rick looked down at her and sighed. "I can't decide if I love how altruistic you are or if I miss the days when I didn't worry about saving the world."

Standing up on her tiptoes, she kissed him lightly. "The first one, definitely."

He kissed her back, more fiercely. "The first one," he agreed at last. Then he sighed again. "All right, let's go save the world."

"Easier said than done. Without a greater knowledge of what he intends to accomplish with the necklace—"

"Which we have!" Evelyn said brightly, remembering somewhat belatedly the results of her search of the car. She produced first Rick's gun, handing it back to him gingerly.

"We're going to practice with these until you're a better shot than I am," he promised her.

Evelyn winked at him. "That will be a reason to look forward to the honeymoon."

His voice dropped huskily. "Not the only reason."

Jonathan rolled his eyes. "Evie, what else did you find in the car? I can't stand another round of all this treacle."

"Does that mean you don't intend to keep coming to us for money after we're married?" Rick said, a plaintive optimism in his voice. The guilt on his future brother-in-law's face, and the distress on Evelyn's, made him regret the jibe almost as soon as it was out of his mouth.

"Well … not _intend_ , as such …"

"It's fine. What would we do without you getting us into these messes?"

"You talk as though you never got involved in anything shady before you met us," Evelyn pointed out tartly. "Where exactly were you when we first met?"

Rick cleared his throat. "In a very exclusive hotel."

"Very." Evelyn rolled her eyes, remembering the filthy prison. "And why were you there?" There was genuine curiosity in her voice. He had never told her, and she had always wanted to know.

"I was just looking for a good time." He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close against him. "And I found it—and a lot more."

After a moment, she relaxed against him, her momentary irritation forgotten. He was entirely too good at that, she thought.

"Well, come on, then, what else did you find in the car?" Jonathan demanded impatiently. Guiltily she remembered that he had been the one who had been tricked into raising the dead, and the one who had been drugged. While both incidents were certainly his own fault, neither could have been much fun, she imagined.

"Sorry." She pulled from her pocket a crumpled up piece of paper she had found under the seat, smoothing it out and handing it to Ardeth. "What do you make of that?"

He frowned, squinting at it to decipher the scrawled handwriting amidst the creases in the paper, then his eyes moved swiftly from the page to Evelyn's face. "He intends to become immortal."

"And all-powerful. With the ability to control the minds of others."

"Didn't we just deal with one of those guys?" Rick complained. "And now we've got another one on our hands."

"Only if he gets the necklace to the Lost Tomb and finishes the incantations he began with Jonathan."

Jonathan frowned. "Oh, only? Wonderful."

"You knew he was up to no good when you agreed to help him," Evelyn reminded him tartly.

"Yes, but no good and 'take over the world' are entirely different things."

Ardeth was still squinting at the paper. "He cannot complete the ritual himself."

"Why not?"

"Because it requires a female magician."

"Oh, so that explains Alex," Evelyn said.

Rick glanced at her. "And you."

"But I'm not a magician."

"And apparently neither is Alex," Rick pointed out. "Which leaves him without one."

"For now," Ardeth cautioned.

Evelyn nodded, her momentary relief fading. "He'll find one. They're not that difficult to run into, really. At least, not the fakers. But even a faker can get lucky."

"Yes, and someone who does not know what they are doing attempting the spell indicated here could do a great deal of damage if it went wrong." Ardeth sighed unhappily. "I know one or two women with true magic, but they are far from here, and he will be impatient. And angry. We do not have a great deal of time."

Rick had taken a step back, and then another, his expressive face twisted unhappily, and now all three of the others looked at him.

He tried to look innocent, failed, and finally sighed. "All right. I might know someone."

"What kind of someone?" Evelyn demanded, his expression and reluctance raising her suspicions.

Rick cleared his throat. "A … woman I used to know."

Evelyn's eyes narrowed dangerously. "How long ago?"

"Long ago. In the past. A lifetime ago."

He sounded like Jonathan, Evelyn realized. And if Rick sounded like Jonathan, that meant he was lying. He had known this woman recently, then. Jealousy rose in her, bitter and thick in the back of her throat.

"We have no other choice," Ardeth said. She looked over to his dark eyes turned toward her with sympathy. "Time is of the essence."

"I think we may be overlooking something," Jonathan pointed out. Rick turned to him a bit too eagerly, as if hoping to get out of having to look up this woman he 'used to know'. Evelyn frowned at them both on general principles. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Jonathan continued, "We still don't know where Osiris is going."

"I may be able to help with that," said a voice from a balcony above them. As one, they looked up to see Alex's face peering at them over the railing.


	8. All in the Past

_Thank you for reading! Sorry for the unscheduled delay - summer! - but we should be done with those and back to an every other week posting schedule for a while._

* * *

"What are you doing up there?" Evelyn cried, irritated at having this strange woman suddenly appearing again in their midst.

Looking unperturbed, Alex climbed over the railing of the balcony and dropped lightly onto the ground in front of Ardeth. "I can help," she repeated calmly. "Unless, of course, you don't want my help."

"Why would we, when you were in league with kidnapping me?"

"And drugging me! Or … so it seemed," Jonathan added more meekly when Alex turned the full force of her blue eyes on him. "Perhaps I was mistaken?"

"Drugging you was Osiris's idea. He thought it would be easier. Of course, he didn't consider how much more difficult it is to get an inert body out the door than one who comes willingly because she's afraid for her brother."

Evelyn narrowed her eyes. "I'm not afraid now."

"Maybe you should be."

Only Rick's grip on her shoulder kept Evelyn from attempting to physically extract real answers from the other woman. "What do you know?" he asked.

"I know where he's going. I know that he has learned a few things from his attempts to use Miss Carnahan and her brother for help. I know that there's no time to waste."

"Why should we trust you?" Evelyn demanded.

For answer, Alex held out her right arm and rolled up her sleeve. There on the inside of her wrist was a tattoo that was very familiar to Evelyn—beneath the leather band he always wore on his right wrist, Rick carried the same one.

She caught herself before glancing at him, however. To the best of her knowledge, she was the only person he had ever told about or shown that tattoo, and surely there was a reason for that. "What's that supposed to mean?" Evelyn demanded coolly instead.

Alex and Ardeth were staring at each other. "He knows," she said softly.

"She is … a medjai."

Rick and Evelyn glanced at each other. It was the first Evelyn had known that the tattoo on his arm marked him as a medjai, and she read skepticism in his eyes at the idea that Alex was one, too.

But Ardeth was not skeptical. It was clear from the look on his face that he believed, and that he felt he had been drawn to her from the beginning because of that bond.

"Are you going to let me show you where he's going?" Alex asked, still looking at Ardeth.

He nodded. "We will accept your word."

And that, apparently, was that, and Evelyn would have to put up with it. She didn't like it—she still didn't trust Alex in the least—but she would go along if Ardeth was certain. "Very well. Shall we?"

"Where exactly are we going?" Jonathan asked.

Rick looked pained. "The bazaar."

Evelyn raised her eyebrows. So Rick knew a black magician who peddled her wares in the bazaar, did he? Of course he did. "Some day you're going to have to tell me all about your checkered past," she murmured, taking his arm as he led the way.

"Or you can just agree that it's all in the past and the future is entirely different." He looked down at her hopefully, and then his face fell as he read the expression on her face. "Fine. Some day I'll tell you."

Evelyn smiled, although she imagined this might be a case in which she would later regret not being more careful what she wished for. Still, better to know than to have surprises like this one appear out of nowhere at such inconvenient times.

She felt even more determined to know everything when they found this black magician of Rick's. The woman was utterly gorgeous, exotic and sensual in a way Evelyn could never imagine herself being, and she let go of Rick's arm, unable to look at him, sure that comparing her with this incredible-looking woman from his past must be making him rethink his commitment to the kind of tame future he would have as Evelyn's husband.

Rick could feel her thoughts as though they were being written on his skin, and he wanted to grasp her arm and pull her back to him and kiss her until he could feel the response in her, feel the moment passion overtook good sense. They had reached that moment once or twice already and he had always stopped, wanting to wait. Now he wished he had let things continue, let Evelyn experience her passion to the fullest. If he had, she would have been facing Rana now with more confidence, rather than very obviously comparing herself and feeling that she fell short.

Rana, much to his chagrin, clearly remembered him. Her eyes brightened in a way he wished he didn't remember and she swayed toward him, completely ignoring the rest of the party.

"Rick O'Connell," she said, in the husky, thickly accented voice he had once found exciting.

"Rana."

"I wondered how long it would be before you came back asking for what I can provide."

"He's not the only one doing the asking," Evelyn said tartly, wondering what exactly, beyond the obvious, Rana had provided Rick. Not that she had any claim on what he had done and who he had been before they met, she reminded herself, but it was hard to be faced with such a living reminder of his illicit and exciting past and not feel a bit put out that she was marrying a man who, if anything, had been more of a rogue than her brother.

Rana's kohl-rimmed eyes flickered to Evelyn, giving her a moment's attention before turning back to Rick again. "I typically prefer not to have an audience."

"Can't help it. I—"

Rick was interrupted by Evelyn placing herself in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring up at Rana. "You have one now."

Jonathan moved to Rana's side, using his most relentlessly suave tone. "My dear lady, allow me to fill you in."

Rana was no fool. She had sized up the situation—Evelyn's blazing eyes and pugnacious stance were a pretty obvious sign of her claim of ownership—and was willing to take from it what she could get, even if it wasn't what she preferred. "Do tell," she purred. "What business brings such a handsome gentleman to Rana's humble shop?"

"Black magic," Jonathan whispered, wiggling his eyebrows in a manner he seemed to think would be enticing.

"Oh, my. I have heard of such magics, but naturally I would never dabble in them."

 _Not without a large amount of coin_ , Rick added to himself, having heard this sales pitch before. "There isn't a lot of time, Rana."

Both Rana and Jonathan cast annoyed glances at him for disrupting the rhythm of the negotiation.

Ardeth and Alex still hovered near the entrance of the tent, standing next to one another. Evelyn could see that they each snuck a glance at the other when they thought no one was looking. She hoped Ardeth knew what he was doing, allowing himself to be drawn to this girl. It seemed more likely than not that she would betray them eventually, and Evelyn had no desire to see Ardeth hurt.

But that was a problem for another day, after all. For now, she was forced to stand here and watch as this exotic black magician humored Jonathan and made eyes at Rick over his head, when in fact she would much rather punch the woman in her smug face and open the cave herself.

Rick's hand wrapped itself around hers, and Evelyn looked up at him, flushing when she saw the amusement in his eyes. She uncurled her fist, letting his fingers twine with hers. Foolish of her to doubt him, after all they'd been through. If he wanted to be here with this beautiful exotic woman, he would be. Instead, he was here with her, Evelyn Carnahan, librarian, and from the look in his eyes, he thought it was a step up.

Reassured, at least for the moment, she managed to turn her attention back to Jonathan and Rana, just as Jonathan was wrapping up a much-embroidered version of the events that had brought them there, one in which he took the most heroic part, naturally.

"So you see, we need your … expertise."

"To do what, exactly?" Rana's voice had lost its languorous tone and was sharp with suspicion.

"To open the tomb, Rana," Rick put in. "Before this other guy can get to it."

"And what assurance do I have that one of you does not want the power you say is hidden within the tomb?"

Ardeth moved toward her, standing there in front of her in his robes. "The word of a medjai."

Rana smiled. "I have known a few medjai in my time. Nonetheless, I will consider that your word is good, since you come here with Rick O'Connell, and Rick is not a man who searches for power. Wealth, yes. Power, no."

"Thank you. I think," Rick muttered.

"But now, the question comes to me—how do you know I will not take the power I find in the cave for my own? What assurances do you require?"

Rick's eyes met hers. "Remember the time in Thebes, in the bar?"

Rana smiled, looking more genuine and less studied than she had since they stepped into the tent. "You are correct. I owe you. I will pay the debt, and do it honorably."

Evelyn looked between them, wanting very much to know what had happened, and knowing as well that it wasn't her concern. No doubt Rick had stepped in when Rana was about to be in trouble, and had saved her from … something. That fit the soft expression on Rana's face and the openness on Rick's. More than that could wait until later. Someday, Evelyn was sure, Rick would tell her that story, along with many others. She had no such stories to regale him with, but as long as that didn't bother him, she refused to let it bother her.

"So, shall we go?" Jonathan held his arm out for Rana. "Lovely lady?"

She smiled at him, and Evelyn was reminded that for all his apparent ridiculousness, her brother actually was a fairly charming person. After all, he managed to charm his way back into her good graces every time he got into a scrape, and she knew all there was to know about him.

"I will get my bag, and then we can go."

As Rana ducked into the back, Ardeth moved up next to Rick, speaking very softly. "Are you certain about this?"

"Yes." Rick glanced at Evelyn. "Mostly."

Ardeth lifted an eyebrow. "Mostly. You know, from any other man, that word would not inspire confidence. I hope you know what you are doing."

"You and me both."


	9. Into the Desert

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

And so the six of them set off into the desert, Evelyn sandwiched between Alex and Rick in the front seat, and Ardeth long-sufferingly enduring Jonathan's continuous attempts to flirt with Rana in the back. For most of the ride, he sat in the corner of the seat, his head turned upward as if he was searching the sky, and Evelyn wondered as she so often did what he was really thinking of. Disquietingly, she thought it might well be Alex.

For her part, Alex was on her best behavior, giving Rick directions through the desert. Perhaps she was too confident about each given turn, but it was hard to say whether that was Evelyn's innate distrust talking or if they really were being led into a trap. Possibly both.

"Turn here!" Alex cried suddenly.

Rick spun the wheel, sand flying up beneath the wheels of the car as it swung to the right, bouncing over the packed ridges of sand.

Evelyn peered ahead doubtfully through the clouds of sand. "I don't see a road."

"There isn't one," Rick gritted out. The muscles in his forearms flexed as he wrestled with the wheel, trying to keep the car going reasonably straight.

"There is," Alex insisted. "It's just hard to see."

Whatever anyone else in the car might have thought of that seemingly preposterous claim, they kept it to themselves, not wanting to distract Rick from his fight with the car.

Then, as if from nowhere, an arrow thudded against the side of the car. Another one embedded itself into the seat between Jonathan and Rana, both of whom shrieked and ducked down to the floor, squeezing themselves behind the front seats. Ardeth plucked the arrow from the upholstery and leaned over the side of the car, attempting to see through the dust to determine where the arrow had come from.

Meanwhile, the thud and the screams had taken Rick's attention from the navigation of the car just long enough. It skidded across the sand, the wheels spinning as they tried to find purchase, and eventually came to a stop, the front wheels half-buried in the sand.

"Stay there," Rick said tersely. He leaped over the door, using his booted foot to try to clear the sand from the front tire.

"He is quite a man," Rana observed, watching him over the top of the seat, her eyes half-closed, making Evelyn wonder exactly what memories she was calling up.

Still, Evelyn couldn't help but agree. There was something so comforting about knowing Rick could handle anything that came up. On the other hand, she felt uncomfortable just sitting here and letting him take care of everything—if they were partners, she should do her fair share. She could dig sand out from around the tires.

Then another arrow thudded into the seat next to her, just where Rick had been sitting. He swore at it, and at the tire, and at the sand miring them down.

"Who are these people?" Ardeth asked Alex.

Evelyn turned in time to see the fearful expression in Alex's eyes before she answered, "I don't know. I … wish I did."

"Come on," Rick said. "We're not getting the car out if we're under fire. Let's go." He reached out a hand for Evelyn, tugging her toward him.

For some reason, she pulled the arrow out of the seat before she climbed out of the car, clutching it in her hand as she ran with Rick toward a pile of rocks not far from where the car had embedded itself in the sand.

Behind them came the others, Jonathan sprinting on ahead so he had caught up with Rick and Evelyn by the time they reached the rocks. Rana, left behind, picked up her flowing robes and ran faster, glaring at Jonathan when she came around the corner of the rocks. "Yes, I am unharmed. Thank you for asking."

"Oh? Good. Yes, glad to hear it. I was just … making certain there was no one hiding back here. Wouldn't want to be the victims of an ambush, after all." No one bought it. Rana folded her arms and ostentatiously turned her back on him.

Rick and Evelyn glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

Ardeth looked Alex over. "You are unharmed?"

"I am."

Only when he was certain of that did Ardeth come to Rick's side. "Who are they, do you think?"

"You don't know?" Rick groaned. "Great."

"I am a medjai, not a magician. But, if you wish to go flush them out, we could ask them who they are." Ardeth's face was lit up, his eyes glittering. He did like a good adventure.

Rick looked at him, considering, then shrugged. "Might as well." Pulling the pistols out of his holsters, he looked at Evelyn. "Stay here."

She didn't like it, but she didn't see how she was going to be useful in a skirmish with unknown archers. "Fine."

He reached out a hand, rubbing his thumb along her chin. "I love it when you listen to me." Giving her a quick kiss, he grinned. "Sometimes."

Then they were gone, scrambling over the rocks, moving from shadow to shadow. There weren't a lot of shadows, but both Ardeth and Rick were very good at this. Evelyn crouched there, peeking through a crack between two rocks, her fingers clenched so tightly the fingernails dug into her palms, watching their progress.

"They'll be fine, Evie," Jonathan whispered.

"Shut up!" she hissed, even as Rana muttered something about cowardice and hiding like a woman.

"I am your protector," he said with dignity.

Rana huffed a laugh, and Alex snapped at them both to be quiet. She seemed as tense as Evelyn felt, which only made Evelyn more tense. Did Alex know what, or who, was out there? Had she set them up? Evelyn was trying to take Alex at her word for Ardeth's sake, but it wasn't easy.

Rick and Ardeth made their way to two rock formations a little way apart, on the opposite side of the tire tracks from the rocks where the others hid. Ardeth held up a hand, signaling Rick to wait as he made his way cautiously over his rocks to the other side, then he waved Rick on. There was another formation ahead, about six feet tall, and they assumed their mysterious archer, or archers, hid there. The lack of any arrows fired in their direction as they escaped the car, or as they approached the rocks, made Rick wonder if the archer was gone, or if the entire plan had been to get them out of the car.

He and Ardeth made another rush forward, which put them at the base of the formation. They looked at each other and nodded, then each put a hand on the top and hauled themselves up—to find nothing and no one. There was a disturbance in the sand that had drifted across the top that indicated someone had been lying there, but whoever it was had disappeared. Peering at the surrounding sands, Rick couldn't see footprints, either, but that meant very little. While his sturdy boots left their prints in the sand, Ardeth, who was as tall if not quite as heavy as he, left almost no mark behind him.

"What do you think, Osiris?" he asked Ardeth.

"Would he have used arrows? That seems too … direct for what we know of him."

"Good point." Rick sighed. "So if not Osiris, and not the medjai—" He paused, lifting an inquisitive eyebrow in Ardeth's direction. Ardeth shook his head decisively. "Then who?"

There was no good answer for that, so they climbed down and headed back toward the car, keeping an eye out but not trying to stay hidden. They paused at the car to look at the tire, which had gone flat in addition to being buried in the sand. Rick sighed again. "I hope this cave isn't much farther."

"No doubt farther than some of our company would wish," Ardeth said, a twinkle in his eyes.

Rick groaned at the idea of a trek through the desert with Jonathan and Rana in tow.

"At least we will be entertained." Ardeth reached into the back of the car and began hauling out supplies and organizing them into packs. Slowly the others emerged from behind the rocks.

"You didn't find anything?" Evelyn asked. Alex's eyes were wide and fearful as she studied Rick's face, but she said nothing.

"We could see where he'd been, but not where he'd gone." Rick turned to Alex. "If you have something to say, anything, now is the time. If you hide things from us now and they come out later, it won't go well for you."

He was pretty sure Alex hesitated, but it was almost imperceptible before she vigorously shook her head. "I don't know anything."

Evelyn was glaring at their new friend—who reminded Rick of his old friend Beni, in squirreliness if not in entertainment value—but she wisely didn't push the issue. If Alex wasn't going to come clean for Rick, she certainly wouldn't for Evelyn.

"Look, I know … I know we started off wrong. Osiris was forcing me to help him, I hope you can believe that. But I'm on your side now. I promise." Alex looked anxiously between Rick and Evelyn, clearly knowing it was the two of them she'd have to convince.

"All right." Evelyn nodded crisply. Rick could tell she still wasn't convinced, but he was impressed that she was learning to hide her thoughts better—at least from people who weren't him.

Ardeth was distributing packs as they spoke. He came to Rana, holding out the lightest pack to her, but she stared at it. "You wish me to carry this?"

"Yes."

"I am not your camel, medjai."

"We each must do our share."

"I _am_ doing my share." Rana gestured to the desert around them to remind them all that the expedition had not been her idea.

"I'll take it," Rick said, more to get the arguing over and get the walking started than to assist Rana, but he immediately regretted it when Rana gave Evelyn a superior look and Evelyn glared back. Not that Evelyn had the first thing to worry about, but he hadn't had a moment to convince her of that since they had brought Rana along.

"Shall we get moving?" Jonathan asked, already fidgeting with the straps of the rucksack he'd been given.

"Good idea," Alex agreed, and set off. Rick hoped she knew where she was going. It was going to be a hard enough trip without getting lost in the process.

He stuck close to Evelyn as they walked. "You okay?"

"Fine."

"No, you aren't."

"I'm walking through the desert trying to keep someone from seizing unspeakable power for evil purposes. Again. Should I be fine?"

She had a point. "You're with me," he offered, giving her the lopsided smile she seemed to find so charming. She wasn't having any of it today, though. She glared at him and stalked ahead to walk with Alex. Well, wouldn't that go well.

Jonathan caught up to him, with a showy display of efffort. "She'll come around."

"Yeah? When I'm eighty?"

His future brother-in-law chuckled. "Probably before that. Especially if you can manage to get through the wedding before any more exotic former … companions reveal themselves."

"With my luck?"

"Well, how many are there?"

It was a reasonable question, after all—Rick just wasn't sure he knew the answer. He hadn't exactly been sober for many of his earlier adventures.

Jonathan understood his silence perfectly. "Good luck, old son."

"Yeah. I'll need it."


	10. Cave

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

They seemed to have been trudging along in the sand for a long time. Rick was at the head of the group, with Alex beside him, giving him directions. Evelyn hung back enough to be out of earshot so that she and Alex couldn't end up in an argument. Rana and Jonathan straggled quite a bit, stopping to take frequent rests, staring reproachfully at whichever member of the party they most resented at that particular moment. And Ardeth brought up the rear, watchful and silent as always.

Evelyn was positively determined that she wasn't going to complain. Rick had endured much more than this, walking out of the desert from Hamunaptra, and lived to tell about it. Ardeth had told her once, privately, that he would never have imagined someone like Rick could manage such a feat. Unspoken had been the idea that the Medjai would have killed him if they'd had any idea he would survive, but Evelyn chose not to dwell on that. It was a good thing for all of them that Rick was alive—no one else could have defeated Imhotep. She firmly believed that.

"I say, Evie, is it much farther?" Jonathan called from behind her. "Poor Rana looks about to drop."

It was Jonathan who seemed about to drop, but in fairness, Rana didn't look much better.

"I'll ask." Evelyn sped up, coming alongside Alex, who looked at her as though she was interrupting something. "I'm being asked if it's much farther."

"Shouldn't be," Alex said briefly.

Rick looked across the sands. The sun was dropping in the sky, long fingers of orange beginning to streak across the sky. They were fortunate they'd lost the car late enough in the day that some of the heat had begun to dissipate, but if they had to walk too long at night it would be chilly, and the desert's predators would come out.

"Evelyn, can you tell them to hurry it up? I'd like to get everyone together. Safer that way."

She didn't stop to argue, turning back toward the others.

He looked at Alex. "If I find out you're leading us into some kind of ambush, you'll regret it."

"No, I won't. You wouldn't do anything to me." When he didn't answer, she went on, an edge of bitterness in her tone. "I know men like you. Honorable, noble men. You wouldn't hurt a woman."

Rick was tempted to ask her what an honorable, noble man had done to her, but he doubted she would tell him—at least, not the truth. Instead, he smiled. "I might, under the right circumstances. Or I might turn Evelyn loose on her."

Alex turned her head to look up at him. "You think I'm afraid of her?"

"She's more than she seems."

"So am I." She pointed in the direction of a distant mountain. "Over there."

"That's where we're going?" It would take days to get there, walking.

"No. We're close."

"That's good news." Ardeth had come up behind them, and he smiled at Alex. "You have done well."

"I … am doing my best."

"All anyone can ask," he assured her. To Rick he said, "Evelyn seems to have the rest of the party in hand. For now."

"Hopefully we'll have them under shelter soon. Then they can rest and we can get to work." How they were all going to get back to Cairo with the car in its current condition, Rick wasn't sure, but he was optimistic that once they got everyone else settled he could go back and fix the car. If possible, he'd like to do that under cover of night, so that whoever had put the car out of commission would expect them to still be marooned. Rick always liked to keep a card up his sleeve wherever possible.

Alex was pulling ahead of them now. He had to admit he was impressed—she had kept up with him without uttering a word of complaint, and was shouldering her load easily without seeming winded. Evelyn seemed fairly fresh still, too, which would come in handy when they got where they were going. He trusted Evelyn to keep an eye on things while he was gone. In general, he would have been fine leaving that task up to Ardeth, but the looks his friend was giving Alex worried him. Evelyn was hardly objective where Alex was concerned, either, but between the two of them it balanced out a bit.

"Over here!" Alex waved at them. She was standing by a small outcropping that looked natural enough until Rick got closer and realized that the rocks were laid deliberately to form a wall, and beneath them was a fairly well-concealed entrance.

Of course, a large slab of rock lay on top of that entrance, because nothing could ever be so easy as just walking in. Well, they had just walked—ridden, rather—into Hamunaptra, and look how that had turned out, so maybe nothing was ever safe.

Evelyn came to stand at his shoulder. "Can we pry it up?"

"The cracks aren't wide enough to get anything in there to use as leverage. It fits the space perfectly." Rick looked at Alex. "Suggestions?"

She stared at him as though he was spectacularly dense. "You brought a magician."

Great. He could just imagine Rana's reaction to the idea that after a long walk through the desert she had to use her magic to pry up a rock.

Actually, he didn't have to, because she would be catching up any moment now and he'd have to tell her.

As expected, she didn't take it well, bursting into a string of Egyptian phrases that made even Ardeth blush. Evelyn looked intrigued, though, and Rick was pretty sure she was filing some of them away to use in their next fight. Not that they fought, yet, but they would eventually. No one could be as stubborn as Evelyn and not be fought with occasionally.

He reached for her hand now and squeezed it, smiling at her as he remembered that once they were done with this, they were getting married, and she would be his, completely, forever. That wasn't a concept he had ever thought he might want, but now that he had it, he couldn't imagine what he would do without it. Without her. She was truly the best thing that had ever happened to him, and not just because she had saved him from the hangman's noose.

Rana was preparing for her spell now, laying things out as carefully as she could on the sand.

"Get on with it," Alex snapped.

Only a brief flick of a glance from Rana's dark-rimmed eyes acknowledged Alex's impatience, but it managed to get across all of Rana's feelings about the day's events.

Alex crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the rock wall. "Fine."

Evelyn was hovering near Rana, and looked as though she wanted to offer to help, but sensibly, she kept back.

At last, the preparations were complete. Rana sank down on the cloth she had prepared, every movement as graceful as ever, reminding Rick of certain other things that had happened on a cloth much like that one. He turned away, joining Ardeth on the periphery of the group. "See anything?"

"Not yet. They will come, though."

"Unless this is what they wanted. Us, on foot, marooned in the desert, opening a hole that can then be mysteriously closed again."

"Indeed. We must assure ourselves that that does not happen."

Behind them they heard Rana intoning a chant, and a wind picked up from somewhere, whipping sand around them. Rick pulled up his kerchief and Ardeth his robes, breathing through them as protection from the fine grains of the sand.

"Rick!" He turned when Evelyn called his name, seeing that the rock slab was hovering above the opening. Rana was tired, though, and her control was slipping.

"Come on." He and Ardeth hurried, standing each on one side of the slab. Jonathan and Evelyn joined them, lifting, taking some of the weight off Rana's magic. Between them, they carried the stone a as far from the entrance as they could get it, hoping that would at least slow down anyone who wanted to come along and put it back while they were in the cave. They also covered it with sand as deeply as they could manage, although neither precaution was enough to make Rick feel good.

Evelyn had already taken the torch out of her pack and lit it, and she was the first one into the hole. Rick started to go after her, but Ardeth's hand on his arm stopped him.

"She can handle herself."

"That's what I'm afraid of. I … don't know what I would do if something happened to her." It felt strange admitting that weakness out loud, and to this man he didn't know well, all things considered. But he felt a certain kinship with Ardeth, something he couldn't quite explain, and somehow he knew Ardeth would understand.

"I have never felt that way," Ardeth admitted.

"You're lucky. It's scary."

"On the contrary, my friend, it is you who are the lucky one."

Which was also true. How something so good could be so frightening, Rick wasn't sure, but it definitely was.

Evelyn called up from inside the cave, "Seems safe enough. You can come down."

Jonathan had been helping Rana pick up her things, and now he stood aside, like a gentleman, letting her go first. He gestured to Alex, but she shook her head. With a glance at Rick, Jonathan headed down into the cave.

"Go ahead," Rick said to Alex.

"Oh. No. I'll … wait."

"No. You won't," he insisted, gently but firmly.

"I will keep watch," Ardeth promised her.

She looked at him with barely concealed fear in her eyes. "You will be careful?"

"I will be careful."

Even with the confirmation, Alex kept turning her head up to look at Ardeth as she descended the stairs.

"Watch your back," Rick told his friend, and he followed Alex. He would get the others settled then go back to work on the car.

At least, that was the plan.


	11. In Trouble in Dark Tombs

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Inside the tomb, Rick found Evelyn and Alex already in an argument. "These people need rest!" Alex was saying.

"Hear, hear," Jonathan agreed faintly.

"There isn't time for that," Evelyn snapped. "The sooner we explore this tomb and figure out how to find the necklace, the sooner we're all out of here and well on our way back to Cairo."

Rana looked at her hands, shaking from her recent efforts with the stone slab covering the entrance. "I admire your spirit, but … I cannot. Not now." She clenched her fingers. "I need rest if I am to perform any magic."

Evelyn had not been expecting that objection, and she glared at Rana and at Alex in turn. Rick could positively see her fuming at the check in progress and the enforced delay. "Fine," she said at last. "I'll go myself. Someone should check things out back there and make sure there's no one—nothing—waiting to leap out at us."

She had landed on an objection Alex couldn't argue with, and now it was Alex's turn to glare in frustration. "And if there is, what do you expect to do about it?"

Rick decided this was where he came in. "Good idea," he said to Evelyn, pretending not to be aware that he was getting in the middle of an argument. "We'll scout out the tomb while Alex helps Rana and Jonathan get settled. There's food in one of those bags."

Even as Rana drew herself up to loudly proclaim that she did not do menial work such as arranging camps and preparing food, and Alex opened her mouth to protest being left behind to babysit, Jonathan, bless him, jumped in. "Quite right," he said. "We're all famished, I'm sure. Why don't I start unpacking and we'll see where we are."

Rick gave his brother-in-law-to-be a surprised look, and grasped Evelyn's hand before Jonathan could change his mind or one of the other women could argue against that plan. "Let's go."

She gestured with the unlit torch she was holding in her other hand. "Ready when you are."

Taking it from her, Rick lit it with a match he took from the pouch at his belt. "Stay behind me."

"Shouldn't I have some kind of a weapon?" she whispered as they came to the corner of a passage.

"I'm your weapon."

She snorted. "That's comforting."

"Shouldn't it be?"

"Not as much as if I could defend myself."

He loved that about her, that she was anxious to learn things for herself and be independent. So many women in her circumstances would have simply relaxed and allowed themselves to be taken care of by a man of Rick's skill set, but not Evelyn. She was determined to be her own person. Not that any of the other kind of woman—of whom he had met many—would have held his attention the way she did. Several had tried over the years, not Rana but others of her type, and he had grown bored with them quickly. He couldn't imagine ever being bored by Evelyn.

At the thought, he pulled her against him, dropping his head to kiss her. She responded eagerly, her arms winding around his neck. He wished he had both hands free to touch her, he wished they were far from here in Cairo, he wished they were married already and safely launched on their wedding night.

But none of those things were true, and Evelyn pulled away reluctantly. "Hold that thought," she whispered, touching his lips with her gloved fingers.

"I always do."

She made a little sound in the back of her throat at the huskiness in his voice and kissed him again.

This time it was Rick who pulled away, not wanting to waste the torch—or be snuck up on by whatever waited for them down here while distracted by the warmth and softness of Evelyn's kisses. "We should keep going."

"If you say so."

The suggestion that Evelyn would have been perfectly fine standing here in the midst of a mysterious ruin kissing him rather than exploring was highly flattering, and almost had him reaching for her again, but he thought better of it and led on ahead. It was a long passage, the walls lined with neatly laid bricks, and in fairly good repair. Either recently used and maintained, or so undisturbed that nothing had been touched in centuries.

Evelyn reached out, lightly touching one of the bricks. "You can see the limestone is crumbling a bit here on the edges, but otherwise this is in very good shape. I imagine very few people have seen this since it was first sealed."

He'd take her word for it. "You think the necklace is down here?"

"I hope so, or we've come a long way for nothing. Stop there."

Obediently, he did so, watching as she took the torch from him and got down on her knees, shining the light on the floor. "I thought for a moment I saw a flash of … metal. Gold, maybe."

"One of the builders dropped some treasure? That's one good way to get walled up in a tomb."

"Would you want a careless worker accompanying you into the afterlife?" Evelyn asked absently, digging into the floor with her fingers.

"Here. Try this." He handed her his pocket knife and took the torch back from her, holding it so she could see what she was doing.

"Thanks." Without looking at him, she began scraping at the dirt floor, carefully digging around whatever the object was that had caught her eye. She leaned down and blew on it, blowing the loose dirt away.

"What is it? Did you find something?"

"I think so. I think …" She went quiet again as she carefully dug and pried dirt from around the object. "Ah, that's got it." Carefully she lifted it from the floor, showing it to Rick in the light of the torch. "This is part of a larger piece of jewelry—lapis lazuli in a gold setting. Very prized."

"So the builder who dropped it really got in trouble, then?"

"Most likely." Evelyn was still peering closely at the piece. "I think this is carved, too, but I'd need better light. Here." She reached for the belt at his waist, deftly unsnapping one of the pouches. "You hold on to this, just in case."

Her fingers brushed against his stomach, and he quivered at the touch. "Evelyn."

It no longer mattered where they were or what might be lurking in the dark. He bent to kiss her again, stepping closer and wrapping his arm tight around her to hold her against him. She kissed him back, but she was distracted, he could feel it.

"Rick."

"What is it?"

"I … Are you certain about this?"

"About what? This wild goose chase of your brother's?"

He regretted the sharp words as soon as they were out of his mouth, because Evelyn pushed away from him, her face unhappy. "I meant about me, but that's part of it. As long as—Jonathan is always getting himself into scrapes, ever since we were children, and I'm all he has."

"I know that. We'll be there for him. I promise. I won't come between you."

"But as long as you're with me, you'll keep being drawn into these things, and you—you could be free to be … I mean, I'm just a librarian, and …"

Rick cupped the back of her neck with his hand, tilting her face up so he could look at her. "Is this about Rana?"

She nodded.

Panic filled him, the feeling that if he didn't say the right things now he could lose her forever, and words had never been his strong point. "Evelyn. Evelyn. I— You— You're so much more than 'just a librarian'. You're … I never knew a woman could be like you, so smart and strong and beautiful and …" He was babbling now, sounding like a fool. "And I got into trouble before I met you. All the time. I mean, look where I was when you met me. Couldn't have been in more trouble than that." He reached for her hand, holding it tightly, desperately. "I would rather get in trouble in dark tombs with you than be anywhere else with anyone else—and I've never felt like that about anyone before."

"Oh. Rick. I— Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life." He kissed her again, and this time she melted against him.

But only briefly. She pulled away, squeezing his hand. "Let's get this over with so we can get out of here."

"My sentiments exactly."


	12. See What's There

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

In the passage behind Evelyn, Rick heard a noise. Instinctively, he stepped in front of her, one hand protectively on her arm, the other reaching for the gun at his side.

"Hold up there, old son. It's just me."

At Jonathan's familiar voice, he relaxed.

Evelyn stepped around Rick. "Everything all right?"

"If you like being trapped in dark tombs. Why do I let the two of you drag me into these things?" When they both glared at him, Jonathan seemed to remember who had started all of this in the first place, and he grimaced. "Oh, right. Yes, well, here we are, might as well make the best of it."

"Is Rana settled?"

"She has graciously agreed to make tea."

Rick chuckled, knowing what it must have taken to get Rana to graciously agree to do anything of the kind. "And Alex?"

"She went out to keep Ardeth company."

Rick and Evelyn exchanged concerned looks in the dim light of the torch. Ardeth was more than capable of looking after himself under most circumstances … but his attraction to Alex was obvious, and being in love themselves, they were more than aware of how that could affect a person's decisions and responses.

"I'll go—" Rick began, but Evelyn put a hand on his arm.

"Let me. You and Jonathan keep looking in the tomb, see what's there. Show him what we found."

"Oh. Right." Jonathan was a magpie, with a gift for finding shiny things. If there were more of the lapis lazuil, he might well find it. Rick took the piece out of his belt, holding the torch so Jonathan could inspect it.

"It's a nice piece, Evie, but—" Jonathan stopped, looking up at her. "You think?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. It's worth keeping an eye out."

For a moment, Rick was lost, and then it struck him. They thought this was part of the Tears of Isis. And if they thought so, it probably was. He closed his hand around the piece, tucking it away in his belt again. "Come on, Jonathan."

For once, his future brother-in-law didn't protest. He was on the hunt for treasure, and while he preferred to find it in other people's pockets and be spared the trouble of digging it up himself, he was archaeologist enough to be excited by the prospect of what he might discover.

Evelyn turned the other way, back toward the entrance of the tomb.

Rana looked up as she approached. "Ah, there you are. The tea may be ready."

'May be' didn't fill Evelyn with any great confidence in the tea's quality—but even at that, the hot beverage sounded quite good right now. There really was nothing quite like a cup of tea. "Maybe just half a cup."

As she sipped, Rana watched her, dark kohl-rimmed eyes studying Evelyn's face. "You are not what I expected."

"You're exactly what I expected," Evelyn retorted.

Rana smiled. "Perhaps there is more to me than you imagine."

"I'd like to hope so." Actually, she was fairly certain of it, behind the seething jealousy she couldn't seem to put aside. Rick looked at Rana with respect. Whatever their past history, Rana had clearly impressed him, and Rick didn't impress easily. Unless he did, Evelyn thought with a pang. Unless he was an easy mark for any intelligent woman who knew what she was doing, and she had just stumbled into him through sheer luck.

"You are very young, my dear," Rana told her, "and inexperienced, or you would know better than what you are thinking."

"Is it that obvious?"

"As plain as it is that you are wrong."

"So there's nothing between you?"

The two women looked at each other in the silence of the tomb and the flickering light of the fire Rana had made to boil the tea.

"No. And of the manner you mean, there has always been nothing." She smiled in a way that reminded Evelyn forcefully that this woman knew Rick in a way that Evelyn might never have the chance to, if they couldn't get this current mess of Jonathan's under control.

"But you know his past."

"You know all you need to know. He is what he seems to be."

Evelyn leaned back against the wall, sighing. "He wasn't always, though, and he won't tell me anything about his past."

Rana smiled at her. "You're wrong. He has always been who he is now—he was a man searching for something, trying to avoid his destiny, and now it has found him. It is as simple as that. As for not wanting to tell you about his past … he wishes to live up to what he believes you think he is. He is embarrassed to tell you what he has done because he feels that in your eyes it will appear much worse than it was."

They were silent for a moment, sipping their tea.

With a quick decisive movement, Rana set her cup down, leaning toward Evelyn with a more genuine expression in her dark eyes than Evelyn had seen in her thus far. "Whatever you do, do not make the mistake of assuming that because he appears to be strong and sure of himself on the outside he is also that person on the inside. You know his background, yes?"

Evelyn nodded, thinking of Rick growing up alone in an orphanage in Cairo. He hadn't told her much about his experiences, but she had to imagine it must have been difficult for him as an American child.

"He is marked by that experience," Rana continued.

For a moment, Evelyn thought she meant the mark on his wrist, but she believed she was the only one he had ever shown that to.

"Knowing nothing about where he comes from, it is difficult for him to know where to go. You …" She looked Evelyn over. "You know too much about where you come from, and you spend your life trying to live up to what you think are the standards your family would wish you to hold yourself to. But you are not your family … and you might be misjudging who they were."

"What do you know about my family?" Evelyn demanded.

Rana smiled, leaning back against the wall and picking up her teacup. "I do not need to know anything about them. Most people misjudge who their parents were."

Evelyn couldn't help but smile, as well. "Is this how you tell fortunes?"

"Most people carry their fortunes on their face. It is only a matter of learning to read them." Rana took a long swallow of her tea and closed her eyes. Evelyn took that as a dismissal. She drained her own cup, setting it down, and got up, approaching the stairwell to the outside.

She could hear quiet voices at the top, as Ardeth sat on watch and Alex kept him company. Evelyn had hoped the situation would be something like this. Her brother and Rick were both honorable men in their own ways and would have scrupled at what she was about to do. But Evelyn, for all that she had been raised to be proper, also tried to be practical. Which meant that she was not above a little discreet eavesdropping if it suited her purpose.

Carefully, she maneuvered herself close enough to the entrance to hear without being seen. Rana would rest, Rick and Jonathan would explore, and if either Ardeth or Alex turned to come down the stairs she could pretend to be just on her way up. Fortunately, they were sitting close enough to the entrance that it was easy to hear them.

"You have been with this man who calls himself Osiris a long time?" Ardeth was asking.

"I'm not exactly with him."

There was a silence, in which Evelyn imagined Ardeth giving Alex that quiet, steady stare that so often forced a response out of the person he focused it on. And, indeed, Alex spoke again, uncomfortable and defensive.

"He made me! It wasn't my fault."

"We make our own choices."

"I … Sometimes. Not always. Sometimes there are … circumstances …"

To Evelyn's complete disgust, Alex began to cry, small pathetic whimpers.

"I am sorry. I did not meant to upset you," Ardeth said when the whimpers didn't stop. "Perhaps we could discuss something else."

Well, score one to Alex, Evelyn thought. To her credit, Alex's tears weren't so easily swallowed as they might have been, leading Evelyn to wonder if they might have been genuine, at least in part, but she had successfully ducked any further conversation about Osiris.

"What do you want to talk about?" Alex asked.

"You say you are a _medjai_?"

"Yes. My father—he trained me. He raised me to be … He wanted me to fight for the side of good wherever I saw it."

"A laudable goal. And do you?"

"I try. Sometimes—sometimes I'm afraid."

There was a rustling, as if Ardeth had moved closer to Alex. "What frightens you?"

Alex didn't answer, which was too bad, because Evelyn would dearly have liked to know. Instead, she said, "I suppose you think a _medjai_ shouldn't feel fear."

"On the contrary. A _medjai_ should know fear. That is the natural way of telling us when to fight. But he—or she," he added, and Evelyn could imagine the courteous nod he gave Alex, "must not allow fear to be the master. Fear is the servant who keeps the wits sharp and alert … until it is given the upper hand, when it dulls the reflexes and deadens the ability to respond."

"I wish I could be more like you. Stronger, and … braver," Alex said in a small voice.

"We can each only be ourselves. From what I have seen, you have strength and bravery of your own. All you need is to learn to use it."

"I hope I can."

"Of course you can. And I—we—will help you in whatever way we can."

There was silence after that, and soon the sound of someone standing up and coming toward the entrance, so Evelyn retreated silently down the stairs. She had heard enough to convince her that Alex was wrestling with herself … or possibly with the part of herself that was under the thrall of Osiris? Either way, Evelyn had to imagine that meant Osiris was out there, waiting for them, and he had plans that would involve Alex in some way.

They would have to be ready.


	13. Dangers and Discomforts

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Rana was sleeping, leaning against the wall. She was even beautiful when she was asleep, Evelyn noted as she went past.

Voices were coming from the hall that led deeper into the tomb. She hesitated for a moment until she was sure she recognized them as Jonathan's and Rick's. Surmising from the lack of urgency in the voices and footsteps that they hadn't found anything of note, good or bad, Evelyn poured them each a cup of tea and had the cups waiting ready to give them when they turned the corner.

Rick's face lit up when he saw her, and he walked straight past the proffered cup of tea, one arm sliding around her waist to hold her while he kissed her. Evelyn didn't object to that at all until her grasp on the cup became unsteady and she could feel tea dripping from her fingers.

Laughing, she pushed him away. "You're spilling the tea."

"That's all right, you have it. You probably need it more than I do." Looking over her shoulder at the entrance, where Alex stood looking awkward, Rick added, "I think I'll go check on Ardeth."

He half expected Alex to say something, but she remained silent. Evelyn turned and offered the now somewhat sloppy cup of tea to her. "Would you like some?"

"No, thank you."

"You should keep up your strength," Rick told her as he went by. "Whatever's going to happen in the morning, we all need to be ready." He didn't add "You in particular", but Evelyn imagined that was what he meant. It was certainly what she was thinking.

But perhaps she was being too hard on the girl. None of them knew anything about Alex's history before they had found her in the museum, or why she had assisted Osiris. Maybe they should start considering that she had been forced to do it, somehow, or had been in such desperate straits when Osiris found her that she owed him her loyalty. Evelyn could imagine all sorts of scenarios, and there was no way of knowing which might be the right one.

"Maybe we should all think about getting some rest," she said, nodding at Rana, who was setting a fine example, snoring faintly as she leaned against the wall.

"You go first," Alex told her. "I'll keep watch."

"You think we need a watch inside as well as outside?" Jonathan asked. "The tomb appears to be empty."

Of course, Hamunaptra had appeared to be empty, too, and had really been infested with mummies, Evelyn thought.

"It can't hurt," she agreed. "Jonathan, would you mind …?"

He followed her quick glance in Alex's direction and rolled his eyes, clearly finding his sister over-suspicious and over-protective, but he nodded. Which was good, because Evelyn was not disposed to take no for an answer.

She and Alex each found a spot to unroll a blanket and lay down facing each other, keeping a close eye on one another until they each fell into a fitful sleep.

Outside, Ardeth rose quickly as Rick approached behind him, spinning around with one hand on the hilt of his dagger. Rick lifted a hand, and Ardeth eased a bit, although he kept his hand on the dagger. "The desert is on the move, my friend."

"The desert, or things that don't belong in it?" Rick joined Ardeth and they stood shoulder to shoulder looking out across the dark sands.

"It is difficult to tell."

"Let me watch; you should get some sleep."

"Were you not going to work on the automobile?"

"I was … but now I'm not sure I want to go that far. Something's coming."

"You feel it, too?"

"We found this place a little too easily for my taste." Rick glanced at Ardeth, hesitating before adding, "You think she was meant to lead us here? Marooned, with no way to get back?"

"There is more to her than meets the eye," Ardeth conceded reluctantly.

"You believe she is truly a medjai?"

Ardeth shrugged. "Stranger things have occurred." In his turn, he looked at the wrist Rick kept carefully covered, and Rick only just managed to keep from hiding his arm behind his back. It was no one's business what kind of tattoo he had acquired in his days in the orphanage, and it certainly didn't mean anything. Neither did the words the old man had taught him … although the training in combat and weaponry had come in useful many times.

"She's scared," he said softly, still watching the sands.

"Would you not be? She has fled her captor, who will undoubtedly come for her."

"She told you he kidnapped her?"

Ardeth frowned. "Not in so many words."

"Ah."

"What?"

"You don't think your judgment has been clouded?"

Ardeth smiled, his white teeth flashing in the dark. "Perhaps it is not my judgment that is clouded, my friend. Miss Evelyn seems very determined to believe the worst."

"She was kidnapped and her brother was drugged while Alex held a gun on them. Don't you think that makes a bit of suspicion seem justified?"

"Fair enough."

Rick saw something shift in the dark, and he caught Ardeth's arm. They both watched, tensed and ready, but there was no further movement.

"I wish it would just happen already," Rick muttered.

"You are a man of action. You should cultivate patience."

"Someday. When there's time."

Ardeth's soft chuckle made clear what he thought of that concept. He was probably right, Rick thought—between his own tendency to be drawn into plans and schemes, largely out of boredom; Evelyn's predilection for getting herself into scrapes; and pretty much every day of Jonathan's life, he doubted there would be a lot of time for settling down or leading a quiet life of contemplation and studying the fine art of patience.

From behind them, inside the tomb, there came a scream. Rana's.

"Go," Ardeth said.

Rick went, grateful that they understood each other well enough that there was no need to explain that someone needed to stay outside in case whatever was happening inside was a trap, or a convenient distraction.

Inside, he saw that a chunk of rock had fallen from the ceiling, narrowly missing Rana's leg, and now Rana was wide awake and newly reminded of the dangers and discomforts of her situation and well on her way into a fit of hysterics.

He went to her, catching her by the arms and holding her, gently but firmly, until she calmed enough to pay attention to him. "It's an old tomb. These things happen."

"These things happen?" Rana echoed. "Where? I ask you, where else has the ceiling fallen in?"

He had to admit she was right; the rest of the room was in fine repair, very little crumbliing.

Evelyn was on her knees next to the piece of the ceiling, studying it. "These look like chisel marks," she said, glaring at Alex.

"When, exactly, do you think I had time to pry things out of the ceiling?" Alex demanded.

"You could have prepared it beforehand."

"And how was I to know someone would be sitting just there?"

"Maybe you expected one of us to sit just under it."

"I had nothing to do with where anyone chose to sit!"

The two women were nose to nose, glaring at each other.

Rick gave a quick look at Rana, checking to see if she was feeling better. At her nod, he left her and put himself in between Evelyn and Alex.

"There's no reason to think Alex was involved in this. Those marks could have been made any time over the centuries—it was just bad luck that piece fell tonight." He wasn't sure he believed it was entirely bad luck, but there was no evidence to suggest otherwise, and that meant giving Alex the beneft of the doubt for the moment.

He held Evelyn's gaze steadily, hoping she would understand what he was trying not to say. Unwillingly, she muttered, "Fine," and stepped away.

Alex looked up at him. "Keep her away from me."

"I'll do my best," he told her, even though it was completely impossible for him to keep the two of them apart entirely, and Alex had to know it.

Then he heard what he had been listening for since he returned to the tomb: Ardeth's sharp whistle of alarm.

"Here we go," he muttered.

It was about time, too.


	14. Mummies

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Rick didn't look behind him as he hurried up the stairs, but inside the tomb, the four who remained arranged themselves predictably—Jonathan cowering with Rana against the wall, and Alex and Evelyn glaring at one another while keeping a sharp ear out for what was happening outside.

"Who's coming, do you think, Evie?" Jonathan asked.

"How should I know? You're the one who got us into all this—why don't you tell me?"

"Perhaps the young lady could tell us."

At Rana's words, Alex flushed, but it was difficult to tell in the poor light whether that was from guilt or anger. "I'm in here, too, you know."

"Nothing has fallen on you," Rana pointed out.

"Nothing fell on you, either—only near you."

Rana's sniff said she didn't think there was much difference.

Outside, there was a gunshot. Rick's, Evelyn believed. She was far from being an expert in firearms, but she was getting used to the sound of Rick's favorite guns. Then a scream, farther away and higher pitched than Rick or Ardeth's voices.

From behind her came a scraping sound. Evelyn whirled around, her hand automatically going to her pocket before she remembered that she had given Rick back the gun she had been carrying when she got it out of Osiris's car. No one else was armed, either. With Rick and Ardeth engaged above, they were sitting ducks for whoever, or whatever, was coming toward them.

"Jonathan," she said sharply. "Make sure nothing happens to Rana."

She could just as well have put that the other way. Regardless, that would have the effect of keeping them out of the way, looking out for one another.

"Alex."

"What?"

"Are you with me?"

There was a pause. Then, sulkily, "I should leave you on your own."

"But are you going to?"

"No."

"Good. Find a weapon."

They both looked hastily around. Evelyn found a knife in the bundle that Rick had brought from the car, and Alex retrieved a chunk of rock from where the ceiling had fallen, brandishing it above her head.

Slowly, the scraping sound came closer as Evelyn held the knife ready and debated whether to stand and wait or to close in. She was about to scream with impatience by the time the first sign of what they were about to deal with came around the corner.

"Oh, no. Not again," she groaned.

"Mummies?" Jonathan asked.

"Mummies."

Alex turned her head to frown at Evelyn. "Again?"

"Long story. Focus."

"Right."

Evelyn moved cautiously toward the corner where the mummy was scraping along in its hitching step. Another was behind it, then another and another. Four? Four wasn't too bad. They could probably manage four.

She tried not to think about the fact that she could no longer hear what was going on outside. Rick and Ardeth were both very good at this sort of thing—they would take care of each other and manage whatever was going on perfectly well without her being distracted and making mistakes down here out of her worry for them.

Instead, she moved carefully closer to the oncoming mummies, knife poised and ready, studying them for any weaknesses. She had to admit, the rock Alex was holding seemed like a better tool for this—the sharp blade of the knife would slide right between the mummies' ribs, when what they needed was to crush them, dismember them, and take them apart.

Without thinking, she kicked the first one in the leg, buckling its knee back. It went down and she smashed her own knee into its skull. When it was on the floor, she stamped her foot into its ribs over and over until they were basically powder.

Next to her, Alex was steadily battering at the second mummy with the rock, trying to avoid its outstretched skeletal hands. But the third and fourth ones were moving past her toward where Rana and Jonathan were pressed back against the wall. Rana had her eyes closed and she was murmuring something.

Evelyn started toward them, but stumbled and nearly fell when her mummy reached out an arm and grasped her ankle. In frustration, she kicked at it with her other foot. The bones were old and friable and they crumbled at the impact of her boot. She snatched her skirts out of the grasp of the other hand, vowing to find something more practical to wear if they were going to continue to be caught in this mess.

Alex was in a death grapple with her mummy, beating at it with one hand while she fought off the skeletal hand that was closing around her throat with the other. Evelyn was momentarily torn whether to help her or to go after the two who were approaching Rana and Jonathan. Even as she hesitated, Alex gave a strangled cry, and Evelyn grumbled under her breath and turned to help the other woman. Jonathan and Rana would have to fend for themselves for the moment.

As Alex was flailing around with the rock, Evelyn had to keep ducking those blows as well as try to wrestle the mummy away. Dimly she was aware of some kind of purple fog rolling across the portion of the wall where Rana and Jonathan were standing and the other two mummies turned away from it and came toward her.

With a final frustrated effort, Evelyn grabbed Alex's hand and used it to smash in the mummy's skull before prying its hand away from Alex's throat and snapping the arm over her knee like a stick of kindling.

She turned toward the oncoming pair of mummies, aware that she was on her own, as Alex was on her knees gasping for breath.

Then behind the mummies Jonathan came charging out of the fog, swinging the teapot and knocking off the head of the one closest to him.

Relieved and proud, Evelyn faced off against the remaining mummy as Jonathan grasped the shoulders of the one he had beheaded, pulling it off balance and knocking it to the ground, where he proceeded to smash it thoroughly.

Evelyn caught the outstretched hands of the one coming after her, instinctively twisting the arms outward while she pushed it back, moving it bit by bit toward the wall. One of the arms broke off in her hand, and she nearly lost her grip on the other one in surprise, but she managed to hold on and used the remaining arm to swing the mummy and bash it face-first into the wall.

And then there was silence, bone dust filling the room. Evelyn took stoc k of the others. Jonathan was bent over, hands on his knees, panting with exertion, Rana was waving her hands in the air to help the purple fog dissipate, and Alex was just getting up off the floor, one hand to her throat.

Footsteps came hurrying down the stairs, and Rick burst into the room. "Evelyn!" He caught sight of her, then of the carnage around her, and the look of pride and respect in his eyes made her feel ten feet tall.

"Are there any more of them?" he asked.

She craned her neck around the corner. "Not that I can tell. Is everything all right outside?"

He nodded. "Mercenaries. They weren't motivated enough to get too close to the bullets. Osiris underpaid, it seems."

"Osiris? Are you sure?" Evelyn glanced sharply at Alex. Ardeth had come down after Rick and was carefully looking over the other woman's throat.

"Best guess. Who else knows we're here and is interested in raising the dead?"

"Good point."

He came to her, catching hold of her shoulders and looking her over. "You all right?"

"Fine. You?"

He nodded. "Fine. But we should get this over with and get out of here, before he finds more mummies—or better paid mercenaries."


	15. Further In

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Rick turned to Rana. "Are you ready?"

"I am ready to leave."

"We can't leave until we find the necklace."

"You, and you—" She turned her black-rimmed gaze from Rick to Jonathan and back again. "Said there was no danger, the passage was clear."

"It was," Jonathan protested. "I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been."

Her look of disgust spoke volumes. "You would have me believe this magician can bring mummies to life?"

"We've seen it before," Evelyn told her. "At Hamunaptra."

"You? You have been at Hamunaptra?"

"Yes."

"I see. You finished what you began, then?" she asked Rick.

"Not exactly," he said uncomfortably.

"You did not discover the resting place of the treasures of Egypt?"

Bitterly, Jonathan said, "Oh, we found it, all right. Moments before it was swallowed up by the desert."

"Better for you, my friend," Ardeth told him. "This chasing after treasure and despoiling the graves of the ancients never goes well."

Rick glanced at Evelyn, thinking it had worked out for him better than he could ever have imagined. She gave him a quick smile, clearly thinking the same thing.

"So, what is it that we do now?" Rana asked of them all. "I wish to be gone from here."

"We need to find the Lost Tomb and finish the ritual before Osiris can get here himself."

"What if he's already here, Evie? The mummies and …" Jonathan looked at the pouch at Rick's belt, where the piece of lapis lazuli rested.

Evelyn resisted the urge to look at Alex and see what the other woman's reaction to that suggestion would be. She listened hard for any sound, but there was none.

"If he's already here, that makes things easier," she said crisply. "We'll just kill him."

There was silence as everyone else stared at her.

"What? Were you planning to just talk to him and reasonably explain why he can't be a god? I didn't notice anyone trying to talk Imhotep out of that same plan."

"Imhotep wasn't much on the talking," Rick pointed out. "Osiris, on the other hand …"

"Yes, he droned on and on," Jonathan agreed.

Evelyn frowned at him. "How would you know? You were too busy eating all the poisoned food."

"Well, that's because you had all the talking under control, Evie."

She rolled her eyes. "So, what's our plan, then? We have to go farther in to find the Lost Tomb—"

"Are we even sure it's here?" Alex asked, piping up for the first time in the conversation. "What if this isn't the right place and Osiris is somewhere else?"

"It's here." Evelyn was certain of it. The car had been smashed near enough to here that this was the most logical place for them to take shelter. She had to think that they had been led here. She remembered that before the car was disabled, Alex had been supposed to be leading them, and turned on the other woman. "Isn't it? You would know, wouldn't you?"

"Of—of course. It must be here," Alex stammered.

"You didn't actually know where you were going, did you?"

"I …" Alex looked around at all of them, her eyes wide and desperate. "I was … I was looking for signs," she said at last, her voice growing stronger either as if she had remembered what her plan had been or as if she had decided on a lie. "There were landmarks I had memorized to remember how to get there."

Ardeth helpfully filled in the details for her. "And then we were forced to leave the car, and that made you unsure?"

She turned to him gratefully. "Yes. That's it, exactly."

"But do you recognize it now that you're in it?" Rick asked.

"I … never came inside."

Evelyn sighed. This was getting them nowhere, and they weren't any closer to coming up with a plan either to deal with Osiris or to complete the ritual so he couldn't. "Look, we need to move further in," she said abruptly. "That's all there is to it. Move further in, find the tomb and the re—the necklace, and complete the ritual."

"Osiris has the necklace," Alex said scornfully.

"Then we destroy the tomb and make certain he can't complete the ritual," Evelyn snapped in response. "Unless you have a better idea, of course."

Alex didn't, or at least, not one she wanted to share, so she lapsed into a sullen silence while they packed everything up again. Rick led the way, torch held high. Evelyn brought up the rear, not so much to keep an eye on everyone else as to move slowly, scuffing her toes in the dirt to feel if she could find any other pieces of the necklace. It occurred to her to wonder if Osiris had been taking it to pieces on purpose, or if he had dropped the piece they found accidentally. If the first, then they were playing right into his hands. If the second, they had a valuable advantage. She supposed she would find out which it was when they caught up to him again.

Evelyn didn't realize how far she had fallen back from the main group until she noticed how dark it had suddenly become. She stopped moving and listened carefully, hearing their voices faintly. It would not be wise to go too fast in the dark, but she moved more briskly in order to catch up, her fingers occasionally brushing the walls to make certain of them. She wouldn't want to miss a passageway in the darkness. She thought about calling out to the others to wait for her, but some instinct told her not to. Situated where she was, if she could avoid making noise, she would be difficult to detect. If anyone was following the rest of the group, she would know.

Carefully she picked her way along, stopping entirely when she saw the light of a very small flame—a candle, she surmised—coming back along the passage toward her. She flattened herself against the wall and waited to see who it was, and what they were up to.


	16. Enlightened

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

To Evelyn's complete lack of surprise, the candle belonged to Alex. She was making her way along the corridor softly, with frequent glances back over her shoulder to be certain no one was following her.

Before she reached the spot where Evelyn was standing, Alex turned off down a branching corridor, one whose entrance was so narrow Evelyn hadn't noticed it previously. She softly approached the entrance, waiting until Alex's light had receded, and then began to squeeze through, stopping with a gasp of fright when something grasped her arm.

"It is only I," breathed Ardeth's familiar voice in her ear.

"Where is she going?"

"One can only guess." There was a sadness in his tone, and Evelyn marveled anew at how quickly a sympathy had sprung up between their medjai friend and this strange, suspicious woman. Perhaps Ardeth saw something foreign and intriguing in Alex, or perhaps he was simply caught by her vulnerability. There was no accounting for taste, apparently.

"Let's find out."

Evelyn could feel Ardeth nodding in the dark, and she squeezed through the crack and followed the rapidly dimming light of Alex's candle. There was silence behind her, but she knew Ardeth was there.

Eventually the light began to grow again as they came closer to the end of the corridor, and Ardeth put a hand on Evelyn's arm again to stop her from moving. They both stood still, hardly daring to breathe, listening for any sounds.

There was chanting, faint and rhythmic, and then a hasty whisper. Two voices, but the words were impossible to make out. As one, Ardeth and Evelyn moved closer, stepping very carefully. Evelyn wished she was wearing softer-soled shoes. Something to think about the next time she went exploring in tombs and caves—more practical clothing.

It was hard to judge how close to get, because they didn't want to step into the light coming from the chamber Alex had disappeared into, but they needed to hear what was happening. Evelyn could make out Alex's voice and that of Osiris, but none of the words were clear enough to understand.

One more slow, cautious step, then another, and the next sentence Alex spoke was clear enough. "I can't do it. Not any longer. Don't ask me."

"You must. You have no other choice."

"No." It was a moan of pain more than a determined stance, and Evelyn resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the other woman's weakness only because Ardeth might have sensed her reaction.

"You swore an oath, do you remember? When I found you in that pitiful slum and promised to bring you out, to give you everything you had ever wanted. You swore an oath in blood to serve me, to obey my orders unquestioningly."

"I … didn't know. I was so hungry." Alex's voice was small, that of a much younger person suddenly.

"You will be so again if you fail me."

There was silence, and Evelyn wondered what was happening. Then Alex spoke again, her voice stronger, more determined. "I will not betray him—them. You can kill me if you have to, but I am finished with this."

Osiris's voice was a sharp hiss as he replied, "There are much worse things than death, I'm afraid. And you court such a fate when you deny me what I want."

"But I'm telling you I don't know where it is!"

"They have it. There were signs that someone was digging in the pathway where it was dropped. One of them has it, no doubt on their person. Search them."

"In their sleep? They don't trust me. That woman would stop me before I laid a hand on her precious Rick. I'm no good to you, I told you that!"

She wasn't wrong. Evelyn wouldn't have let Alex get near Rick, or Jonathan for that matter. Probably not Rana. Ardeth, on the other hand … She glanced at him in the faint light that came from the chamber ahead. He was listening sharply, but his face was expressionless. Evelyn wished she knew how to do that. She was afraid her own face was an open book all too often.

Still, she wondered what Ardeth was thinking. Alex's position was one anyone might have found themselves in, Evelyn had to admit—down on your luck, nowhere to turn, no money or food. Surely you would take the first offer of betterment that came your way, regardless of its morality. And just as surely, once secure and well-fed, you might be grateful to the one who lifted you up, grateful enough to continue to do what he wanted, even if it was wrong. Even if … she looked at Ardeth again with more sympathy. Even if your heart wanted something very different.

Osiris's voice, when it came again, was lower, almost a snarl. "You will find that missing piece and you will do so quickly."

"Let go of me."

Next to Evelyn, Ardeth tensed. Was he going to spring to Alex's defense, even though they didn't know Osiris's capabilities or how many other people might be in the chamber with them? Evelyn hoped not, but she knew if he was determined to do such a thing, she couldn't hold him.

Fortunately, she didn't need to try, as Osiris spoke again in a more controlled tone, closer to his usual smooth manner. "Very well. I believe I have made my point. You will find the piece?"

"I'll … I'll try."

"You should return to the others before they notice you have gone. Tell them you became lost."

"I'm supposed to know what I'm about," Alex argued.

"Tell them whatever you think they will believe, then," Osiris said dismissively.

Ardeth touched Evelyn on the hand at that. Alex would be coming back soon—they didn't want her to catch them here. He led the way and Evelyn followed closely behind him, although not so closely that she would risk treading on his heels. Alex would have a candle, and would be able to move faster than they did. Their only hope was to reach the main passageway of the tomb before she caught up to them.

Evelyn was used to moving around in dimly lit libraries, and Ardeth had excellent night vision, so they were able to move fairly quickly. Still, it was a relief to Evelyn when they emerged from the corridor into the wider passage, and an even greater relief to see a torch coming toward them.

"There you are!" Jonathan frowned at them both. "You haven't seen Alex, have you? Never seen such a mess, everyone getting lost everywhere."

"You, too? Have you lost Rick? And Rana," Evelyn remembered to add.

"No, they're up ahead. Rick sent me back to see who I could find while he got Rana settled. I think he's trying to talk her into helping."

A faint chill went through Evelyn at the idea of what persuasive techniques Rick must have used on Rana in the past—but that was the past, and he wouldn't dream of doing any such thing now. She knew it as well as she knew herself.

"Why don't you and Ardeth keep looking for Alex," she said in a deliberately raised voice, so that Alex could hear it if she was in the corridor, "and I'll go join Rick and Rana."

Jonathan sighed. He clearly would have been happier with a less active role. But he joined Ardeth, and they started moving back toward the first camp. Evelyn took a glance down the narrow corridor, seeing the faint light of Alex's candle coming toward her, then hurried to catch up with Rick.


	17. Charade

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

When Evelyn caught up with him and Rana, it was clear to Rick that something had happened. Her color was high, her eyes bright, and she had that focused, determined look that said she was working through a plan.

He wanted to just stand and watch her, memorizing every change in her expression. In awe of her intelligence and how quickly she could navigate a problem that seemed incomprehensible to him, Rick found the sight of her at work mesmerizing.

But now, sadly, wasn't the time for that kind of indulgence. He caught her by the arm, pulling her slightly away from Rana. "What?"

"He's here. She met with him."

Their eyes met. "Well, that's not good. What does he want?"

Briefly she glanced at the pouch on his belt. "The piece."

"You were right again."

That got a smile. "I so often am."

"One of your many charms."

Before he could kiss her, which he would have loved to do, sounds indicated one of their wandering party members was about to catch up with them.

"What do we do?" Evelyn whispered. "He's in the chamber—we would have to get past him to open it."

Rick frowned. "How many men does he have?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see, only hear."

Ardeth appeared around the corner, with Alex accompanying him. Rick wished they had arrived separately so he could have spoken frankly with his friend—or strong-armed Alex without Ardeth there for her to appeal to.

Jonathan was behind them, so at least their whole group was together again, which was a relief. Rick looked at all of them, considering his options. On the whole, he would have preferred a frontal assault on Osiris, get him out of the way once and for all—but he knew enough about this magic stuff, all this ancient treasure and the curses and charms that protected it, to know that rushing in too hastily often was a bad idea. He would have done it anyway, and handled the consequences, had it been just him. But Jonathan had a way of fouling up plans, Evelyn would no doubt argue that there was a more mystical way, Rana would want nothing to do with it, Alex would get in the way, and Ardeth … Ardeth could normally be counted on to join Rick in a physical altercation, but Rick didn't think he would be so easily convinced in this case.

So direct attack was out of the question. He put an affectionate arm around Evelyn, nuzzling her ear, and murmured,"How close would Rana have to be?"

She turned her head and whispered, "Close enough that he would know we were there."

"What if we distract him?"

"How?"

"We let him think he's gotten what he wanted."

Evelyn pulled back, looking up at him, and sighed, getting the gist of what he was suggesting. "Hamunaptra."

"Something like that." He pressed his forehead against hers, grinning. "Worked out all right in the end, didn't it?"

"You weren't the one who was almost sacrificed," she murmured against his lips.

Rick couldn't help wincing, remembering the way the mummies and Imhotep had tossed him around like a rag doll. "Depends on how you look at it."

"Yes, I suppose there is that. Nothing else to do, is there?"

"Oh, come on, you two, aren't there other things you could be doing right now?" Jonathan complained loudly.

Rick raised his eyebrows at Evelyn, who nodded reluctantly. He embraced her, feeling her hand rest ostentatiously on the pouch at his belt, her fingers fumbling inside it. Then she withdrew her hand, closed as if she was holding the piece, and they broke apart after an all-too-brief kiss.

Evelyn yawned—only partially feigned, Rick noticed with some concern—and covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm sorry. It's been a long couple of days."

"Maybe you should get some rest," he told her.

"That might be a good idea." Evelyn looked around. "Maybe we should all try to get a few hours' sleep. It's been a long night for everyone."

Ardeth nodded. "A sensible plan. I will keep watch."

He was the logical choice, but he wasn't going to appreciate them using Alex and Evelyn as a distraction for Osiris. "Why don't you let me take first watch?" Rick said. "I've—there's a catch in the pistol, I want to take it apart and see what the problem is before I have to use it again. I won't be able to sleep until I figure it out." It was a thin story, but he hoped plausible enough to keep Ardeth from arguing.

"All right, if you prefer."

There was caution in Ardeth's voice, and Rick knew his friend would sleep lightly, if at all. Since this charade was as much for Ardeth's benefit as for Alex's, Rick wished he had come up with a better story to begin with … but the damage was done.

Jonathan, at least, had taken the suggestion with unsuspicious relief, and was unrolling blankets for himself and Rana. Rick caught Rana's gaze and raised an eyebrow, and he could see that she got enough of the idea from the exasperated way her lips pursed. Having a history with someone could be useful at times, he reflected, even if he knew it was slowly driving Evelyn crazy. For her sake, he wished he had a hell of a lot less history than he did … but that was all in the past. She was his future, all of his future, and he would spend every minute of the rest of their lives making sure she knew it.

Slowly, they all settled, Rick reaching for Evelyn's hand and holding it gently as she allowed her body to relax in hopes of getting some rest, if not any actual sleep.

He made a show of taking the pistol apart—a little bit, not completely, so it could be quickly put back together, and he had backups anyway—and then slowly let his head fall back against the wall and his eyes close, giving the impression that he had fallen asleep on watch.

Tired as he was, Rick was keyed up enough that he didn't think it was likely he would fall asleep before Alex made her move. She wasn't experienced enough to wait long enough to make sure everyone slept, he judged.

And sure enough, he was right. Not long after he had let his eyes close, he heard the soft movements that indicated Alex was moving carefully across the floor. Evelyn gave a sharp breath, there was a faint whisper, and then the sound of both of them sneaking past Rick back the way they had come.

As soon as the sounds had faded around the corner, Rick opened his eyes … and in the light of the torch found Ardeth staring at him. "Well, my friend, the die is cast," he said softly.

"That it is. Let's see whose number comes up … and hope it isn't ours."


	18. At the Right Hand of the Devil

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Evelyn followed Alex back through the passages to the long corridor that led to where Osiris would be waiting, but before the other woman could slip through the crack in the wall she caught Alex's wrist to stop her.

"Why are you doing this? You don't have to."

"I do."

Evelyn wished she could see Alex's face. "You don't owe him anything."

"You don't know what it was like before I met him." The scorn in Alex's voice was clear enough. "So pretty, so clean, so educated—you've never starved, have you? Or known what it's like to have no home, no family, nowhere to go, no idea where your next meal is coming from or where you'll sleep at night. I have. I would—I will do anything to never have to go back to that again."

"But you don't have to!" Evelyn said in a loud whisper. "You've seen the way Ardeth looks at you. Do you think he would ever let you return to that?"

There was a pause, and Evelyn thought maybe she had gotten through. But then Alex said, mulishly, "Men's looks are nothing to stake your life on."

"Neither are the promises of magicians out to wake the dead and rule the world, no matter how charming they may be," Evelyn added, thinking of Imhotep, who had been a fine figure of a man, despite his homicidal streak.

"Stop stalling!" Alex snapped. "You're coming with me, you're bringing the piece of the necklace, and this is done. No more of this nonsense."

Evelyn sighed, obeying the tug on her sleeve that pushed her into the corridor ahead of Alex. She'd had to try. For a moment, she'd almost made progress … but Alex's innate distrust of other people had been too strong. And Evelyn had to admit she hadn't done anything since they'd met to make Alex want to trust her.

She felt her way carefully along the corridor, her hands on the walls, trying to move in a halting manner so Alex wouldn't know she had already been here. "Where are we going?" she whispered.

"Just keep walking. You'll know soon enough."

And indeed, there was the faint light. Evelyn hesitated before stepping into it, but Alex gave her a little shove, so that she nearly tripped moving from the corridor into the large room, lit by torches along the walls.

Osiris was watching two other men who were digging at one end of the room. They moved very carefully, tapping the ground with the edge of their shovels before taking a small bite of the dirt. Evelyn watched for a moment, interested in the process, forgetting her situation, before Alex nudged her again, not gently.

The movement attracted Osiris's attention, and he turned toward Evelyn, smiling. "Miss Carnahan. I was hoping you would be willing to join us."

"After you had your minion here threaten me, I think you were more than hoping. I imagine you were fairly certain."

"You underestimate yourself, Miss Carnahan. You are nothing if not unpredictable."

"I've heard that before," Evelyn admitted.

"I have no doubt. Still … I think you must have something up your sleeve, to be brought along so willingly." His voice roughened, taking on a tone of command. "Tie her up."

Before Evelyn could move, Alex's capable hands had pinned her arms at her sides, drawing them back enough to be able to pass a cord of some kind around her elbows. It was painful, but Evelyn refused to complain. She had anticipated something like this, after all.

"You are wise to cooperate," Osiris told her gravely. He came to her, studying her stained and creased clothes. "I can search for it, or you can tell me where it is. Your choice entirely, although I think I don't have to inform you which you would find less enjoyable."

Evelyn faced him defiantly. "I don't have it."

"You—" She had startled him out of his urbane composure. "You must."

She shook her head. "Sorry."

He turned on Alex, his eyes blazing. "I told you to bring the piece!"

Alex shrank from his anger. "She took it from him! I saw her! I'm sure of it."

They both looked at Evelyn, who shook her head again. "Rick has it." She glanced at Alex, feeling genuinely sorry for the girl for the first time, even though this was playing out exactly as she and Rick had planned it. "Alex saw what she wanted to see."

With a strangled scream of rage, Alex launched herself at Evelyn, knocking her over. Without being able to put her arms out to catch her fall, Evelyn's head banged painfully into the ground.

Osiris dragged Alex away. "You fool. You imbecile. You played right into their hands. Now the others will leave with the piece and we will never be able to put the necklace back together."

Alex was calming down, blinking as she stared at Evelyn, who sprawled on the ground, her head throbbing. "No. He'll come for her. He's besotted by her—he'll never leave her here. So is the brother, for that matter. As soon as they wake, they'll come for her."

"And the medjai?" Osiris's voice was soft. "Is he 'besotted' with her, too? They could easily give him the piece and he would be gone, vanished without a trace into the desert he came from."

"No." Alex shook her head. "He—he won't leave, either."

"You are certain?"

"Yes."

It sounded very much to Evelyn as though Alex wished she wasn't so sure of Ardeth's regard.

"Well, then, we will simply have to wait for them, won't we? Get her up," Osiris barked, returning to the corner where the other men continued their slow, careful digging.

Alex knelt next to Evelyn, grasping her upper arms painfully. "Come on, get up. Thought you could get around me with that little trick, did you? And you wonder why I'm loyal to him—he's never lied to me."

"You'll let Ardeth walk into a trap just because an evil man made you believe lies were truth?"

"Shut up!" Alex's hand flashed up, cracking Evelyn across the cheek. "You stand here, and you wait, and you shut up."

She backed up against the opposite wall, glaring at Evelyn.

They were both silent for a while, and then Alex spoke again. "You didn't like me the minute you saw me."

"You were lying to me. What was I supposed to think?" Evelyn leaned her head wearily back against the wall. It was still throbbing from when she had hit it when she fell.

"You could have …" Alex swallowed visibly. "Maybe you're right. I … I had my orders."

"I know you did."

"I couldn't have done anything else."

"Yes, you could have. You could have told us the truth."

"Why should I have trusted you any more than you trusted me? Osiris—he saved me. All you ever did was look down on me!"

"And after he raises an army of the dead?" Evelyn asked. "Where do you fit in then?"

Alex shrugged, but her face looked bleak. "It is better to be at the right hand of the devil than in his path."

Evelyn thought she had heard that somewhere before. It was a valid point, she supposed, if you trusted your particular devil not to turn on you when something didn't go his way. Personally, she wouldn't trust Osiris not to take his bad day out on whoever was nearest to hand at the moment. "And when he betrays you? What then?"

"I suppose you would have me believe I'd be better off with you, that you and your friends would be loyal to me."

"If you earned our trust, it would be yours to keep."

"It's easy to say that, not so easy to prove it."

It crossed Evelyn's mind to suggest that Alex let her go, that they work together to find some way to escape, but she thought that would only convince Alex that she was being played. Instead, she closed her eyes, hoping to rest them a bit. The smoke and the light from the torches was causing them to water. "Suit yourself," she murmured.

"Are—are you crying?" Alex stepped closer. "Evelyn Carnahan, the librarian who knows everything, who has everything, are you crying?"

"Just tired. And my head hurts. Thanks for that," Evelyn said tartly. Or as tartly as she could manage. She was weary to exhaustion, and all she wanted to do was sleep—and sleep was a distant dream. There was much to do before she could surrender herself to blissful slumber.

"Sorry," Alex muttered.

"Never mind. Can we—can we stop talking for a bit?"

"Of course."

There was silence, while Evelyn leaned her head against the wall and tried to clear it, and Alex lost herself in her own thoughts.


	19. Trust

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Rick had his pistol put back together in a few practiced movements, and he and Ardeth looked at each other. He wanted to go first, but he knew Ardeth was quieter, better suited to following someone in a dark, echoing tomb.

Neither of them had reckoned on Jonathan's piercing whisper. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Rick lied. "You can sleep."

"Wait." Jonathan was sitting up now, feeling in the dark for the blankets where Evelyn had been lying. "Where's Evie?"

"She is with Alex," Ardeth told him.

Jonathan got to his feet, his face more serious than Rick had ever seen it. "You let her take my sister?" he demanded of Rick.

"It was her plan," Rick protested.

"You went along with it."

"You try talking her out of something when her mind's set on it."

Jonathan didn't have a good response for that one, so he turned to Ardeth. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on the fair Alex? Two eyes, or so it's looked."

"I … believed with Rick and Evelyn that this was the right way to handle it."

In a surprisingly quick motion, Jonathan reached into Rick's holster for the pistol and drew it. "All right, then, let's go."

"You will not need me for this, will you, Rick?" Rana asked from her place in the darkness, her voice husky with sleep.

"I hadn't planned on it," he answered, gritting his teeth. "But since you're awake, I suppose you might as well come along."

"I'll lead," Jonathan announced.

"Ardeth will lead."

Pulling himself up to his full height, Jonathan got as close to Rick's face as he could. "That is my sister you just sent off with someone who has already kidnapped her twice."

"And you're the one who made the deal with him to begin with, so let's think twice about who we point guns at, shall we?" Gently he pushed the barrel of the pistol down so that it pointed at the floor. He wasn't entirely certain of Jonathan's prowess with firearms, and he didn't want to find out right now.

They faced off for what felt like minutes to Rick, a world of unspoken questions about each other in that look. Would Rick be constantly leading Evelyn into danger? Would Jonathan continue to embroil her in his schemes? Could they each trust the other to have her best interests at heart and not to hurt her?

The answer, Rick supposed, was that Evelyn trusted and loved both of them, and they had no choice but to trust each other for her sake. He reached into the pouch at his belt and removed the piece of the necklace, holding it out to Jonathan. "Here. They'll think I have this. They won't imagine I gave it to you. Evelyn won't, either."

They shared a smile as Jonathan tucked the piece into an inside pocket—without looking at it or exulting over its value, Rick noted with a certain amount of surprise. "You can count on me," Jonathan said stoutly.

"Can I?"

"It's Evie. Since we were kids, we …" He stopped, clearing his throat. "She's all I have. I'm not going to let anything happen to her if I can help it."

"I know it. I won't, either."

"I know." Jonathan reached out a hand, and Rick shook it solemnly. He might still think of Jonathan as a petty thief with less good sense than he should have, and Jonathan might think of him as a reckless adventurer who would never be good enough for his sister, but they each knew that she was the most important thing in the world to the other one, and that made for a good basis for trust.

"I am ready," Rana announced, and Rick nodded to Ardeth, who had been waiting rather impatiently all this time.

Rick couldn't help feeling nostalgic for what he had thought was a pretty good plan, all things considered, and the ability to just sweep in and get things done with Ardeth at his side, but he was learning that this was what happened when Jonathan was around—the unexpected. Always the unexpected.

He motioned for Jonathan and Rana to follow Ardeth, and moved carefully behind both of them, bringing up the rear, just in case. He thought most of what they had to deal with was ahead of them, but it never hurt to be prepared for the worst.

Rick was startled when Ardeth disappeared into what looked like nothing but a crack in the wall, and then concerned when he had to turn sideways and inch along like a crab to get through. This had not been built with men his size and bulk in mind, that was for sure.

Ardeth slowed as he came near the faint light that came from the end of the corridor, holding up a hand to halt them all. Rick wished he was close enough to hear what was going on, or to have a whispered consultation with Ardeth about what to do next. He was left here in the darkness behind them all having to trust Ardeth to know when to move—and trusting to someone else's plans had never been Rick's strong suit.

He supposed if he had to trust someone, it might as well be Ardeth, and he leaned back against the wall, listening and waiting. It seemed to take forever, minutes ticking by in which he thought about Evelyn at the hands of Osiris and worried about what kind of trouble she was getting herself into, before anything happened.

Finally, something. Ardeth darted out of the corridor and into the light. Rick listened hard, but other than a smothered voice quickly silenced, there was nothing. Then Jonathan followed, and suddenly there were shouts. Pushing Rana ahead of him, really rethinking the wisdom of that positioning, Rick came out into the light, disoriented for a moment at the rapid change from the darkness. He had the presence of mind to grab Rana's arm and shove her behind him, back into the relative safety of the corridor before something could happen to her.

He blocked the entrance to the corridor with his body. In case that was the only means of egress from the room, he wanted to control it.

Behind him, he heard Rana begin to chant something, and the dim smoky light from the torches began to grow brighter. He saw Evelyn's wide eyes, noting the dark smudges of exhaustion beneath them; Jonathan brandishing a pistol, waving it rather haphazardly around; Ardeth with a knife standing protectively in front of Alex; and across the room a tall slender man in elegant robes that looked as if they had been pressed staring at all of them as though they were scarabs to be crushed under his boot. Behind him several men were digging, moving carefully around what appeared to be a large slab of stone buried in the floor. The tomb, if Rick was reading the situation right.

So, here they were. One way or the other, they were coming out of this room with things settled. Rick was glad to have finally gotten here. He was going to take care of this Osiris once and for all, and then he was going to take Evelyn away somewhere and keep her there for a good long time, let her sleep, and finally maybe get enough peace and quiet to get married.


	20. Exchange

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

"Mr. O'Connell. What a pleasure to meet you at last." The slender man in the robes took a step toward him, stopping when Jonathan leveled the pistol at his face. "Now, Mr. Carnahan, that is not friendly."

"You drugged me! You call that friendly?"

"Shall we say that it was necessary? You had good food and a pleasant sleep, you were hardly the worse for the experience." He turned his attention back to Rick. "Now, Mr. O'Connell, do I take it you have come to return my property to me, perhaps in exchange for your lovely fiance?"

Rick glanced at Evelyn. Standing as he was between her and Osiris, he hardly thought an exchange was necessary, a point he was about to make when he saw that Osiris had gotten to the thought first. He was snapping his fingers, and Alex moved from behind Ardeth to take Evelyn by the arm.

Ardeth moved as if to stop her, and she held up a hand. "No!"

"That's it," Osiris said agreeably. "Move very carefully, gentlemen. Take a step backward." He watched as they all did so, Rick reluctantly until he saw the gleaming dagger in Alex's hand.

Evelyn looked so tired, so defeated. Under other circumstances, he would have trusted to her quick wits and bravery to get her out of this situation, but right now she didn't look as though she could outwit Jonathan, much less someone as clearly sharp and on top of his game as Osiris. Rick worried.

He had backed up nearly into the entrance to the corridor, where Rana was still murmuring her soft chant. She interrupted it to ask, "What do you wish me to do?"

Osiris was watching Evelyn, so Rick risked a reply. "Can you move that slab and open the tomb?"

There was a pause, then, "If that is what you wish."

"Do it."

"I am running out of patience." Osiris's voice had taken on a sharp edge. "Mr. O'Connell, in case you have not noticed, I have your fiance, and yet you are not even paying attention, much less returning to me my property."

"Your property?" It was a semblance of Evelyn's usual crisp tones, blurred by weariness. "That necklace doesn't belong to you."

He waved a hand in the air to dismiss her correction. "Semantics, my dear. Mr. O'Connell?"

Rick kept his face blank. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Osiris grabbed Evelyn by the hair, yanking her painfully toward him. "Don't you?"

It was hard not to do something rash when Evelyn cried out in pain that way. Rick gritted his teeth. He wanted to shoot the man, but it was foolhardy to fire a gun in here—hit the wrong slab, the whole tomb could come down on them.

Behind Osiris, the stone began to move. The diggers had paid no attention to anything but their job, and they seemed to think they were the ones lifting it.

Rick could hear Rana chanting quietly, her voice tense, betraying the mental energy she was using on the spell. She wouldn't last long without a rest, not moving a big slab of rock like that.

"Look," he told Osiris, "I don't have it. What good is it to me, a piece of a broken necklace? I threw it away."

"It's true," Evelyn murmured. "I asked him not to, but … he's a savage. No subtlety."

There was a warmth in her eyes that was only for Rick, and a forgiveness for whatever unsubtle way he chose to end the stand-off.

While Osiris was still determining whether he was going to believe them, the slab rose in the air, unsealing the tomb once and for all, and slammed into the head of one of the diggers. The man collapsed, groaning, under the weight of the stone, and his fellow prostrated himself on the floor in terror, crying out something about the anger of the gods.

Osiris whirled around, shouting, his composure completely upset for once. Behind Rick, Rana's voice stopped, and he could hear her slump to the ground in the corridor, effectively blocking that as a way out. He hoped she would be able to rest enough for them all to get out of here, but for now she was as safe as he could make her.

Evelyn, on the other hand, was still in the clutches of Osiris. Literally, as he had his hand tightly on her shoulder and had dragged her with him as he went to investigate the fallen slab of rock.

"Did it open by itself?" Alex whispered, staring at the stone with a mix of fear and awe in her eyes.

"The tomb. It opens." Osiris looked into the hole left behind by the slab. Rick wished he was close enough to see into it as well, to know what they had let themselves in for. He wished there had been another choice.

Evelyn seemed unaware of Osiris's grasp on her shoulder as she, too, leaned forward to look. "I wonder where they go?" she asked, almost of herself, and Rick could see her foot move forward as if to take the first step down into the tomb, to find out what was down there. Even now, she was more scholar than anything else.

"No!" Osiris pulled her back. "No one may enter without the necklace!" He took it from his pocket and held it up. Light played along it, as though the stones were alive somehow, but then fizzled and was gone. "I must have the piece. Give it to me!"

"I don't have it!" Evelyn protested, even as Osiris shook her as if hoping to shake the missing piece loose from her clothes.

He caught her by the arms, holding her in front of him. "I'll snap her neck, O'Connell." His careful diction and gentlemanly manner were gone; his lips curled in a savage snarl.

"I don't have it," Rick insisted. Even in his current mood, Osiris wouldn't hurt her. She was the only leverage he had, the only thing that kept Rick from simply shooting him where he stood.

But across the room, someone else who loved Evelyn as much as Rick did wasn't so sure.

"I have it!" Jonathan cried. "I have it. You want it? Come and take it. Just let my sister go."

"No, Jonathan!" Evelyn started to say something else, but Osiris clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Bring it to me, Mr. Carnahan."

"Evie first." There was a determination in Jonathan's voice that Rick wasn't sure he had ever heard before.

"Alex," Osiris barked, gesturing with his head toward Jonathan. Ardeth tensed, but relaxed when Alex shook her head.

"You, Osiris. Not her," Jonathan insisted.

"Very well. If you must have it this way." Osiris moved toward Jonathan, hampered by having to haul Evelyn with him. She looked angry and outraged, but not hurt, so Rick didn't worry about her. He would have liked to have finished this by shooting Osiris, but he managed to keep Evelyn in front of him so Rick wouldn't be able to get a clear shot.

Standing before Jonathan, Osiris thrust Evelyn toward her brother, but maintained a firm grip on her shoulders. "Give your sister the piece."

"No. This exchange is with you, not with her. Let her go, and you can have it."

Osiris wasn't happy about this, Rick could tell, but he was supremely confident in his own powers, and in his ability to use the necklace to open the tomb and do whatever it was he intended to do in order to gain its power. He shoved Evelyn aside, causing her to stumble and nearly fall, and stepped toward Jonathan. "The piece," he demanded.

"Very well." Jonathan held it up, glittering in the light from the torches. He moved closer to Osiris, putting the piece directly in his palm, then stepped back.

Osiris held the piece up, walking backward to the edge of the tomb. His free hand reached into his pocket for the rest of the necklace—and came up empty.


	21. The Dagger

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

Startled, Osiris put his hand into his pocket again, digging around for the necklace … and again the hand emerged from his pocket empty.

A bellow of rage practically shook the room when he realized what must have happened, and he turned toward Jonathan. "Where is it?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, old fellow. I gave you what you asked for." Jonathan could look very innocent when he put his mind to it. But Osiris was smarter than that, and he continued advancing.

Evelyn had managed to make it to Rick's side, and he quickly cut the cord that held her arms behind her back, rage surging through him as he saw how tight it was. She rubbed her hands and moved her arms around a little, trying to restore the blood flow.

Ardeth had moved adroitly so that he stood between Osiris and Jonathan and Rick and Evie. He held his hand behind his back, nearly hidden in his robes, so that Rick barely caught the wink of shiny metal in his palm. The necklace! Jonathan must have slipped it to him. With a quick shift forward, Rick took it from Ardeth and handed it in turn to Evelyn in a single smooth movement. She and Rana would have to be ready.

Osiris had a tight hold on the missing piece. Jonathan would have his work cut out for him extracting it while dodging the blows Osiris was trying to rain down on him. Well, if Jonathan was good at anything, it was avoiding being hit and stealing things, so Rick didn't worry about him too much.

All this time, Alex had stood immobile, as if frozen to the spot, watching the activity. Rick could see that she was poised to move, but completely unable to decide which direction to go. She was torn between her belief that she owed Osiris her life and thus her fealty, and her yearning for friendship, a normal life, even love. He saw her eyes connect with Ardeth's, something unspoken passing between them, and she was galvanized, launching herself as if from a spring and landing squarely on Osiris's back. He gave a shout, his grasp on the missing piece of the necklace slipping as he staggered forward under the sudden weight on his back.

The piece of the necklace flew up into the air, all of their eyes tracing the twinkle of gold as it arced above their heads. Alex reached out for it, overbalancing herself, and Osiris twisted even as her weight carried him toward the open entrance to the tomb. He reached out for the piece and missed it.

Ardeth plucked it from the air, tossing it immediately to Rick, who handed it to Evelyn. She lost no time fitting it back in with the rest of the necklace and beginning the incantation etched into the gold. She squinted at it in the dim light, her voice soft so as not to attract Osiris's attention, but Rick could hear every syllable of the ancient language clear and sharp as she pronounced it.

Osiris teetered on the edge of the open tomb, Alex still on his back. He clawed at her arms, drawing blood, trying to remove them from around his neck, but she refused to be dislodged. She was crying as she held on.

He regained his balance, stepping back from the open mouth of the tomb, and reached once more into the pocket of his robes, fumbling for something, coming out with a sharp, gleaming dagger. He turned it in the direction of Alex's arms while Ardeth leaped for him, calling her name. Alex let go, wisely, because Osiris was about to slash her arms open in multiple places, and tumbled off onto her back. Jonathan rushed to her side while Ardeth faced off against Osiris, his arms wide, poised to grab for the dagger if he was given the slightest opening.

Osiris feinted with it, the torchlight glancing off the blade, and then stabbed at Ardeth's face, the medjai twisting out of the way at the last second.

"Hurry!" Rick whispered over his shoulder.

Evelyn didn't bother to respond. She was translating as she read, and Rick recognized how very good at this she was—very few people could do what she was doing right now at all, much less under pressure and on very little sleep or food in the past two days. He reminded herself to let her know, once this was all over and they'd had a chance to catch their breath, how much he admired her for everything she was.

In the meantime, he shut his mouth and didn't distract her any further, turning his attention back to the others. He wanted to get in the middle of the fight between Ardeth and Osiris, put this situation to rest once and for all, but this wasn't his battle to win; his place was with Evelyn, protecting her and Rana in case that protection was needed. Ardeth could handle Osiris, Rick was sure.

Although Osiris was better with the knife than Rick had expected him to be. He had Ardeth backed up nearly to the wall.

Behind them, Jonathan knelt next to Alex, who had her hands to her head as if she had struck it in the fall. She looked up just as Osiris made a final leap, one that Ardeth didn't quite manage to evade. The dagger embedded itself in his shoulder.

"No!" Alex screamed. She got to her feet, throwing off Jonathan's attempt to hold her back, and rushed Osiris again, grasping the back of his robes and pulling him off Ardeth before he could do any further damage to the medjai.

The dagger came loose from Ardeth's shoulder, tearing jaggedly through his robes and leaving a bright line of red blood behind it. True medjai that he was, Ardeth pushed himself off the wall with only a grimace of pain, but Alex had pulled Osiris out of his reach.

"You are never going to hurt anyone again!" she said valiantly, but there were tears still streaming down her face, her strength wavering as she fought her training, her long-held belief that she owed Osiris her life.

Even as Jonathan and Ardeth closed in on either side, both determined to pull Alex and Osiris apart before he could overpower her, the dagger flashed in the light.


End file.
